Strategic Analysis

Impact of COVID-19 on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The global onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic continues as uncertainty swirls around the global economy signalling a slowdown. It is still uncertain how long it will take to arrest the spread of the pandemic and normalcy to be restored. Under the prevailing situation, health has rightly been on the top of the agenda of all the countries which would require scaling up the available health facilities for a robust response. Experts say, until there is a medical solution in the form of vaccine to COVID-19, the health issues will remain the top priority for the governments.

SAARC COVID-19 Fund: Calibrating a Regional Response to the Pandemic

The convening of a video conference of the SAARC leaders by the Indian Prime Minister on March 15 to initiate a regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic came as a surprise to many countries in the region that are fighting the crisis mostly alone, scampering for testing kits, medicines and PPEs and also preparing to deal with the impeding economic crisis.

Asia’s Regional Architecture: Alliances and Institutions in the Pacific Century

Andrew Yeo, Stanford University Press, Redwood, CA, 2019, US$ 70.00, (Hardcover) $58.99, ISBN-10: 1503608441

Georgia 2008: Conflict Dynamics in the Cyber Domain

The article focuses on the Five-Day War, which took place between Georgia and the Russian Federation in August 2008. This war provides the first example of use of cyber-attacks during a conventional military engagement.

Has the West Lost It? A Provocation

Kishore Mahbubani, Allen Lane, New Delhi, 2018, 105 pp., INR 499 (Hardback), ISBN 978-0-241-31286-5

India in South Asia: Challenges and Management

Amit Ranjan (Ed.), Springer, Singapore, 2019, 289 + xxxiii pp., €103.99 (Hardback), ISBN 978-981-13-2019-4

Deepening Critical Infrastructures in Northeast India: People’s Perspective and Policy Implications

Northeast India continues to be an industrially underdeveloped and infrastructurally deficient region. The poor condition of infrastructure in the region demands serious attention. Studies in the region reveal that a people’s perspective of development, i.e., roads, electricity, telecommunications and water, falls rightly within the ambit of critical infrastructure. Critical infrastructure is directly linked to economic development, national security, access and availability of educational and health infrastructure.

Politics and Government in China

Guoli Liu, ABC-CLIO, California, 2011, 160 + xxxi pp., US$ 35.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-313-35730-5

Revisiting the Discourse on Strategic Culture: An Assessment of the Conceptual Debates

Strategic culture as a concept is generally understood as pertaining to the influence of the cultural dimension in national strategy. The concept rose to prominence due to the inability of the structural realist theory to explain differences in behavioural patterns among nations. However, a diverse array of perspectives has evolved on the concept, spanning four generations of theorization, giving rise to numerous debates.

Strait Rituals: China, Taiwan, and the United States in the Taiwan Strait Crises, 1954-1958

Pang Yang Huei, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, 2019, 336 pp., US$55.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-988-8208-30-2