West Asia

India’s Policy Towards West Asia: The Modi Era

Publisher: Pentagon Press

West Asia holds significant relevance for India due to a multitude of economic, political, strategic and security factors. India considers the West Asian region as its ‘extended neighbourhood.’ Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, India’s West Asia policy has received renewed attention, marking a notable transformation in its foreign policy approach towards the countries of the region. In recent years, engagement between India and the West Asian region has moved beyond the traditionally dominant spheres of trade, energy and diaspora ties. India has emphasised cooperation in the fields of defence and security, building strategic partnerships and is exploring new areas of cooperation in sectors such as renewable energy, health, climate change, food security, connectivity and so on. Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Think West’ policy has further prioritised engagement with the West Asian countries. This book provides scholarly perspectives on Modi’s policy and approach towards the West Asian region. The authors reflect on different dimensions of the India–West Asia relationship, examine the key changes in India’s approach under the Modi government and explore the opportunities and prospects of cooperation in the new and emerging fields. The authors aver that Prime Minister Modi’s continuous engagement with the regional leaders at bilateral and multilateral levels, the convergence of interests between India and the West Asian countries, India’s increasing stakes in the region and a changing perception of India in the minds of regional leaders are some of the key drivers of the fast-growing India–West Asia relationship.

ISBN: 978-81-968722-2-9 ,
E-copy available

Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy , Prasanta Kumar Pradhan
2024
Book

Publisher: Pentagon Press

During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, besides the structural factors namely geography, history, politics, international system and the world order, five conjunctural factors dominated Turkish foreign policy behaviour and conduct. These include the Strategic Depth (Stratejik Derinlik) doctrine with ‘zero-problem’ with neighbours embedded in it followed by the Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan) doctrine focused on enhancing Türkiye’s maritime presence in its immediate neighbourhood and the periphery. Thirdly, and arguably the most important, is the personality of Recep Tayyip Erdogan who as a dominating figure in contemporary Turkish politics has shaped not only the political discourse but foreign policy praxis. Erdogan’s personalised style of interventions has undoubtedly had a profound impact on Ankara’s interactions and engagements with the wider world. Finally, pan-Islamism and neo-Ottomanism are two important drivers in Turkish foreign policy and were visible notably in the Middle East and North Africa region and came into prominence in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings. In this context, it is pertinent to ask what are Turkish foreign policy ambitions and how do these impact India? Given that Ankara has expanded its presence, or at least is striving to expand it, in the geographically contiguous Southwest Asia region that connects India to the Middle East, the question how Indian foreign policy should view Türkiye becomes even more important. The bilateral challenges between India and Türkiye make it even more pertinent for Indian scholars and policymakers to take a deep and hard look at Türkiye’s foreign policy doctrines and praxis. This book is an attempt in that direction. It systematically analyses the structural and conjunctural factors in Turkish foreign policy and notes that Türkiye’s foreign policy is embedded in a glorified identification of the past, both Ottoman and Kemalist, and in its geographical location as a multi-regional actor. However, the foreign policy ambitions are limited by Türkiye’s economic performance and political sliding. From an Indian viewpoint, the book identifies Pakistan as a limiting factor so far as the bilateral relations are concerned and recommends that New Delhi should use economic leverage and diplomacy to de-hyphenate the Pakistan factor.

ISBN: 9788195189427 ,
Price: ₹ 995/-
E-copy available

Publisher: Routledge

This book is a study of India’s political, diplomatic and security challenges caused by the changing geopolitical and security dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Like many other countries, India has been deeply affected by the unrest in the Arab world. As India has several long-term economic, political and security stakes in the region, it has adopted extreme caution in its responses towards the developments in the MENA region since the beginning of the Arab unrest. This book examines India’s policy of non-intervention and opposition to military intervention in the internal and regional affairs of the MENA region. In response to the ongoing conflict, India has engaged with several regional organisations and multilateral forums to work together and find political solutions to the regional conflicts. The book also examines new developments, such as the rise of the Islamic State, and the new security challenges this has introduced. Despite the regional turbulences, the momentum of India’s engagements with the countries of the region has been maintained and India has been building mutually beneficial partnerships in diverse fields. In this context, the book examines the response, approach and the policies India has adopted to protect and promote its interests during the last ten years of unrest.

ISBN: 9780367618506 ,
Price: £96.00

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

This book is a comprehensive study on the education system of Saudi Arabia, placing the reforms and changes it has undergone in the past two decades within the context of the historical evolution of the education system. An education system cannot be seen in isolation of the society; it plays a significant role in shaping the individual, state and the society, that in turn, have a bearing on the education system and its evolution. Therefore, this book locates Saudi education in the backdrop of the changes in the society, how they have facilitated or hindered the education reforms and how the education reforms have impacted the society. The book does not ignore the immediate trigger for the beginning of a comprehensive reforms process but goes beyond it to find much deeper socio-political and economic rationales that paved the way for the reforms. It provides a nuanced understanding of the interplays of various socioeconomic as well as political factors that have shaped the education system in Saudi Arabia.

ISBN: 978-981-15-9172-3,
Price: 84,99 €

Erdogan’s Turkey: Politics, Populism and Democratisation Dilemmas

The nearly two decades of Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP; Justice and Development Party) rule has raised a number of questions on the advancement or reversal of democratisation in Turkey. Besides the partisan debate on increasing authoritarian behaviour of Erdogan, there have been limited attempts to comprehensively examine the way AKP has shaped the Turkish politics in the context of the democratisation debate.

Publisher: KW Publishers

Terrorist groups are driven by extremist political ideologies or distorted religious discourses, which they then propagate through traditional and modern means of communication to wean more recruits to their diabolic designs.

The indoctrination of these extremist ideologies lead to transformation of law-abiding citizens into violent extremists, a process known as radicalisation. This book proposes ways and techniques for reversing this process of radicalisation by taking the fight to the terrorists in the ideological domain. It proposes ways for developing and launching counter-narrative campaigns against radicalisation in order to drain the ideological swamp from which terrorist organisations continue to rear their ugly heads. This book specifically provides conceptual insights into developing counter-narratives against jihadist organisations, like Al Qaeda, ISIS and Pakistan-based terror groups.

ISBN: 978-938-913-771-2 ,
Price: ₹.1088/-
E-copy available Soon

Publisher: KW Publishers

The states of West Asia continue to grapple with dramatic changes taking place in the domestic and regional environment. Security has emerged as a significant concern for them. The political upheavals, civil strife, sectarian violence, and terrorism in the area have implications for the regional and global order. As the region grapples with myriad socio-economic problems, many extra-regional players and non-state actors, and a few regional ones, are attempting to carve out their own areas of influence. These developments across West Asia demand constant monitoring and careful analyses. This book is a collection of essays exploring various aspects of the changing security paradigm in West Asia and the regional and international responses.

ISBN: 978-93-89137-59-0 ,
Price: ₹.1280/-
E-copy available

Publisher: Pentagon Press

Ideology, Politics and New Security Challenges in West Asia, is the collection of papers presented during the international conference on West Asia on January 19-20, 2016. As dramatic changes are taking place in domestic and regional political environments in most countries of the West Asian region, this volume provides an in-depth assessment of the changing security paradigm in the West Asian region, examines the conflicting ideologies and their implications and looks at the resurgence and spread of extremism and terrorism in West Asia, focusing on the ISIS and its impact for the region and beyond. Besides, this edited volume highlights the role and involvement of the extra-regional powers while providing insight into the geopolitical shift in the global energy scenario and its implications for the supplier and consumer countries. Finally, the book examines India's growing partnership with the region, explaining various opportunities and challenges.

ISBN: 978-9386618535,
Price: ₹1,050/-

Publisher: Pentagon Press

West Asia in Transition-Volume II is the result of a project launched by the Delhi Policy Group (DPG) in 2016 to study the rapidly changing socio-political and economic structures as well as emerging trends in West Asia. The publication is a collection` of essays by senior diplomats, academics and young researchers on different aspects of the profound transformation taking place in the West Asian region.

ISBN: 978-93-86618-17-7,
Price: ₹.1295/- $34.95/-
E-copy available

Publisher: Pentagon Press

The Persian Gulf-2016-17 is fifth in the series published by MEI @ ND and first in collaboration with the IDSA. It Examines India’s bilateral relations with the region and focusses on developments during 2015 and 2016. It gives a comprehensive account of the strategic, political, economic and cultural aspects of bilateral developments and also provides in depth analysis of internal dynamics of the Persian Gulf countries.

ISBN: 978-93-86618-19-1,
Price: ₹ 1295
E-copy available

Syrian Civil War and the Chemical Weapons Use

Transformation of Middle Powers with the Decline of World Hegemony: The Case of Turkey

Turkey is widely considered to be a middle power in the international system. The authors apply hierarchical, behavioural and ideational approaches to the foreign policy of Turkey: each of the three unveils specific features of Turkey as a middle power in the post-hegemonic world. It is argued that the behavioural approach to studying middle powers should be updated to distinguish ‘benign’ and ‘revisionist’ middle power strategies. The factors contributing to Turkey’s transition from being a benign middle power to being a revisionist one are holistically investigated.

Ali Emre Sucu , Ivan Safranchuk , Alexander Nesmashnyi , Qosimsho Iskandarov
July 2021
Strategic Analysis

Discursive (De)legitimization of the Iran Nuclear Deal in Donald Trump’s Tweets

On May 8, 2018, President Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Since the JCPOA is endorsed by a United Nations Security Council Resolution and supported by the international community, Trump has had to justify this controversial decision. Based on data extracted from Trump’s Twitter account and taking advantage of Theo van Leeuwen’s (2008) discursive construction of the legitimation model, this article addresses the following question: How has Donald Trump attempted to delegitimize the JCPOA?

Hossein Nourani , Afsaneh Danesh , Mohammad Reza Nouri , Farzaneh Latifi
July 2020
Strategic Analysis

The Three Pillars of Radicalization: Needs, Narratives, and Networks

Scholars from various academic disciplines have attempted to explain the nature and drivers of the 21st century sui generis phenomenon of radicalization. However, it is rare to find a single book which not only details and builds on the body of work in this still evolving field but also sheds fresh insight into the many unresolved issues that demand fresh perspectives and approaches.

Uzbekistan: The Key Pillar of India’s ‘Act North’ Engagement

India has redefined its engagement with Eurasia in the last few years. It has sought to re-energize ties with its extended neighbourhood based on its historical linkages, positive and benign image, and overlapping security and economic interests. In this context, ties with Uzbekistan remain a key pillar of India’s Eurasian calculus. Tashkent’s strategic location at the crossroads of Central Asia and abundant natural resources form the fulcrum around which the security of Central Asia revolves.

Qatar Crisis and the Deepening Regional Faultlines

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar. They accused Qatar of supporting extremist and terror groups in the region, having close ties with Iran, undermining the security and stability of the Gulf region, and using the satellite television network Al Jazeera as a propaganda machine. They also put up a list of demands before Qatar, to be accepted within 10 days in order to end the boycott.

AKP, the Arab Spring and the Unravelling of the Turkey ‘Model’

The rise of the Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi (AKP), its domestic and foreign policy successes and its early response to the Arab Spring made it popular in the Arab world. Many inside Turkey, the US and the Arab world saw the AKP as an Islamist party with a difference, that could be a ‘model’ for the Arab countries struggling with a democratic deficit.

Asia in international relations: unlearning imperial power relations

The discipline of International Relations (IR) is deeply enmeshed in the history, intellectual traditions and agency claims of the West, thus obscuring the contributions from the non-Western world. IR theory fails to take cognisance of the global distribution of the various actors along with their contribution to a heterogeneous and rich discipline. There is a pressing need for a departure from IR’s historic complicity with marginalisation and the silencing of alternative epistemologies, thereby making its process of knowledge production truly global and democratic.

Analysing the Impacts of Drug Trafficking on Human Security in Central Asia

The international security environment has undergone many changes since the end of the Cold War. There has been a need to adapt the concept of security with the changing conditions and new security situations emerging in different geopolitical locales of the world. The concept of human security gained currency in the wake of international developments in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War. New security threats were identified by scholars and analysts the world over. There was a shift in the way security was conceptualised, i.e.

Israel–China Ties at 25: The Limited Partnership

Israel–China bilateral ties have witnessed significant growth since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in January, 1992. Both countries are currently investing their energies in realising the full potential of their on-going partnership in the innovation economy. Growing tourist linkages are another facet of the burgeoning relationship.

The Red Sea Crisis and Regional Economic Ramifications

The Red Sea crisis as a result of the attacks on shipping traffic by the Houthis in solidarity with the Hamas fighting Israel has had significant negative, economic ramifications for regional countries.