The Brahmaputra is the oldest antecedent and the widest braided river flowing through China, India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Tsangpo in Tibet, Siang in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh, Dihang in the plains, Brahmaputra in Assam, and the Jamuna in Bangladesh. In The Braided River: A Journey along the Brahmaputra, Samrat Choudhury, a journalist and author, elucidates on the life around Brahmaputra in Assam and Bangladesh.

• Hassan Momin |
• January-February 2023 |
• Strategic Analysis

No one better than a representative assigned the task to put the wheels of the Abraham Accords in motion could give a bird’s eye view of the events leading to signing the Accords and the aftermath. Aryeh Lightstone’s narration of the story surrounding the Accords gains credibility as he was part of high-level discussions on the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ vision. Lightstone was Chief-of-Staff to David Friedman, who served as US Ambassador to Israel between 2017 and 2021. He was the liaison between the States parties to the Accords and was in charge of facilitating the Accords’ implementation.

• B. Poornima |
• January-February 2023 |
• Strategic Analysis

In a country like Pakistan, where none of its Prime Ministers could ever complete a full five-year term in office, the role of the so-called ‘deep State’ — a term used as a euphemism for its Army—in exercising disproportionate control over the affairs of the country—has often been highlighted.

• Adil Rasheed |
• January-February 2023 |
• Strategic Analysis

The two authors of the book under review are academics at separate campuses in the United States, with the first having to his credit previously published books in international and strategic affairs. In their collaborative effort, the authors have chosen to draw attention to the perceived challenge being posed to the existing world order—a creation of the Western alliance led by the United States. Important members of the alliance—Britain, France, Germany and Japan—favour continuity of the existing order. They have been labelled as status quo powers.

• Sunil Khatri |
• January-February 2023 |
• Strategic Analysis

The year 2022 marks the 60th anniversary of the 1962 Sino-Indian war. Fought over a period of one month, the war is seen as one of the watersheds in the history of India–China relations. Besides creating a considerable dent in bilateral ties, it also led New Delhi to revamp its defence and military infrastructure. Incidentally, in terms of research on China studies in India, the war proved to be a defining moment of transition.

• Mayuri Banerjee |
• November 2022 |
• Strategic Analysis

The first half of 1971 witnessed some significant developments in South Asia: the emergence of a liberation movement for an independent Bangla Desh, the Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) insurgency in Ceylon and the landslide electoral victory of Smt. Gandhi in India. These developments came at a time when China, in the aftermath of the decisions taken at the Ninth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, had begun implementing a reactivated tactical line in foreign policy.

• K. N. Ramachandran |
• November 2022 |
• Strategic Analysis

India’s foreign policy, as in the case of any other sovereign state, aims at protecting and promoting the country’s ‘national interest.’ Strategic autonomy, which has been its defining value and goal, remains at the core of India’s global engagements. India maintains political, diplomatic, economic, strategic, science and technological, and cultural relations to achieve a stable, secure, peaceful, and prosperous India. The largest ‘democracy’ in the world, India, joins hands with the EU, the largest cluster of ‘democracies’ in the world.

• Manoj Babu Buraga |
• November 2022 |
• Strategic Analysis

In light of China’s rise, the Quad coalition has gained momentum in its efforts to maintain a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). While scholars have discussed the relevance of Quad, little work has been done to theorize the balancing behaviour of individual Quad countries. This article examines Randall Schweller’s Balance of Interest theory—which emphasizes the underlying ‘profit motives’ in alliance formations—in the Quad coalition.

• Adarsh Badri |
• November 2022 |
• Strategic Analysis

The history of colonialism normally focusses on the socio-economic losses of colonies, and the benefits of metropoles are a much less-studied field. Our study indicates that the flow of resources, rent and personal wealth should not be downplayed as factors of economic growth in the key Empires, although information on most subjects is limited. This importance could be demonstrated (although not fully quantitatively evaluated) by India–United Kingdom relations before 1913.

• Leonid Grigoryev , Alexandra Morozkina |
• November 2022 |
• Strategic Analysis

The article analyses the ongoing Russia-West confrontation manifested mainly in the armed conflict in Ukraine, the world’s largest war of sanctions, a growing confrontation in cyberspace and politics, the erosion of the system of arms control treaties and a sharp reduction of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere. Russia and the West are fighting not only for influence in Ukraine but also over the future of international relations on a global scale in the coming decades.

• Konstantin Khudoley |
• November 2022 |
• Strategic Analysis