The national security of India rests on two basic and mutually supporting premises. The first, of course, is the internal strength, cohesiveness, and firmness of purpose of the nation. The second is the ability of the country to exist and develop in a changing international environment, the hostility or friendship of which is rarely certain and never absolute. It is with the second aspect that we concern ourselves in this article.

• K. Saigal |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

The Chinese territorial claim on the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh has negatively affected India–China relations for many decades now. In recent years, China has become visibly aggressive with regard to its territorial claim by denying visas to Indians from Arunachal Pradesh travelling to China, claiming that they are Chinese citizens and hence do not require visas. China also tried to block ADB aid sought by India for the state.

• Namrata Goswami |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

There is general agreement among those concerned with international relations and strategy that for the next fifteen years Asia is more likely to be an area of tension and conflict involving major powers than any other part of the world, now that detente has stabilised the situation in Europe. There is further agreement that China and growing nationalism among the Asian societies will be the foci around which tension and conflict are likely to build up.

• K. Subrahmanyam |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

Cyber security cooperation should be a natural area of cooperation between India and the United States for a number of reasons; both countries are democracies, with similar values and economic systems, and both have also been severely affected by threats emanating from cyberspace. The structural complementarities between the two economies, especially in the services sector, which is a major user of cyber networks provides further motive for the two countries to cooperate in this sector.

• Cherian Samuel |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

Beginning with partition of the subcontinent in 1947, this book by renowned scholar Stanley Wolpert provides an account of one of the oldest political crisis/conflicts in the world. He simplifies 63 years of complex history, tracing the relationship between the two antagonists. This book is an outcome of his extensive work on South Asia over the last 60 years. In this book, Wolpert explores historical roots of the conflict, assesses different phases of it and the attempts made to resolve it, before recommending potential solutions to it.

• Anwesha Ray Chaudhuri |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

South Asian countries, and particularly India, are hydrocarbon-deficient, and given the pace of economic growth in many of these nations, all of them need huge energy resources to sustain their growth. In accordance with their diversification strategies as well as to enhance energy security they are considering alternate sources and means of imports, including via land pipelines.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

The religious and political ideas of Sayyid Abdul A'la Mawdudi (Mawlana Mawdudi) provide the ideological current to groups contending for the supremacy of Islam (rather than Islamic Revivalism). Mawdudi's brand of political Islam has gained widespread acceptance in South and South East Asia as well as the Middle East. His influence on Hassan al-banna (better known as ‘Salafis’ and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), Palestinian scholar Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (believed to have taught the Islamic values to Osama bin-Laden) and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini bear testimony to it.

• Anshuman Behera |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

Chemical science has a direct relationship with human life. In order to celebrate the value of chemistry, the United Nations (UN) has declared 2011 as the ‘International Year of Chemistry’. Various bodies of the UN including UNESCO and other organisations like the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have been entrusted with popularising the science of chemistry.

• Ajey Lele |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

India, Pakistan and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia is a strategic debate between the optimists and pessimists on whether the nuclearisation of South Asia has stabilised the subcontinent or whether proliferation has rendered it more dangerous. Authored by Sumit Ganguly and S. Paul Kapur, the book examines the question as to whether the decision to exercise the nuclear option by India and Pakistan was a prudent one: Did India's nuclear capability accord it a great power status? Did the Pokhran II tests of May 1998 make India more secure?

• Reshmi Kazi |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis

India shares 4095 kilometres of land and river boundaries with Bangladesh. The border is porous, criss-crossed by rivers and hilly and mountainous terrain which has made the guarding of this border extremely difficult. Border is a political construction. People living in the villages adjacent to the border do not subscribe to any concept of nationality or recognise the boundaries of the nation state. For the people living in the ‘borderlands’, a non-existent line bars them from leading the natural existence they have led for centuries.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik |
• September 2011 |
• Strategic Analysis