Article 1 of the United Nations Charter declares the maintenance of international peace and security to be the primary function of the United Nations. This makes the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) the most important organ of the whole establishment. All other functions and engagements of the United Nations are in support of the primary cause.

• Saurabh Mishra |
• March 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

Ambassador I.P. Khosla, the author of the book Underdogs End Empires: A Memoir, started his career in the Indian Foreign Service in 1960 and retired in 1996. Holding important positions, he witnessed at first hand the historic events that unfolded during this period and in the book under review he narrates all these experiences. The canvas of the book is large in terms of the geography as well as the time period it covers.

• Padmaja Murthy |
• March 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

Coined a few years ago, ‘asymmetric warfare’ is an umbrella term that includes insurgent and terrorist campaigns that Western militaries were forced to contend with in the course of external interventions. Asymmetric wars for Western countries are wars of choice, not wars of necessity.

• S. Kalyanaraman |
• March 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

The latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme, released on November 8, 2011, has effectively raised the global threat level. The agency faced the daunting challenge of making a judgement on how far Iran's nuclear programme has advanced and its potential for weaponisation on the basis of suggestive but dated, inconclusive and possibly fake evidence (hundreds of pages of evidence have been sourced to one laptop of unproven provenance given to the IAEA by a Western intelligence agency).

• Ramesh Thakur |
• March 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

The recent fad among Western security commentaries is to portray India as a natural member of East Asian political life.

• Zorawar Daulet Singh |
• January 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

The granting of scheduled tribe status to the Kuki-Chin people eroded their allegiance to clan and linguistic/dialectal identities. While they do not have any problem with a pan-ethnic identity, their primary loyalty is to their own clans and communities. Invocation of kinship ties by different groups does not necessarily translate into a common political agenda. There are at least 15 armed groups among them that have combined into two larger groups—the United People's Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO)—and signed a peace agreement with the state and central governments.

• S. Thangboi Zou |
• March 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

China's global presence is indisputable, yet for most of the Cold War, China shied away from an international role. However, as China's economic profile has risen, so too has its interest in engaging with regions further afield.

• Victoria Tuke |
• January 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

India has been grappling with the problem of devising an efficient border management strategy that would prevent the entry of dangerous elements while at the same time allowing the legitimate flow of goods, services and people. Given that it has always been vulnerable to cross-border threats and challenges such as illegal migration, drug and human trafficking, gunrunning, smuggling of commodities and cross-border terrorism, India has taken a largely unilateral approach towards border management whereby security of the borders is accorded primacy over the free movement of people and goods.

• Pushpita Das |
• January 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

Ilan Pappe's Out of the Frame is a personal narrative about Jewish society in Israel and an intellectual commentary by a historian on the state of Israel.

• Khinvraj Jangid |
• January 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis

This article assesses the shifting preferences of Bhutan towards the foreign policy determinants. Three determinants (national security, political culture and economic engagement) have been studied as they play a significant role in shaping Bhutan's policy behaviour. These determinants have been analysed with respect to India, Nepal and China, three countries that have been of critical interest to Bhutan's foreign policy.

• Medha Bisht |
• January 2012 |
• Strategic Analysis