Strategic Analysis

Ladakh: India’s Gateway to Central Asia

Ladakh is one of the largest administrative units in India, in terms of its territory. Due to its contiguity with Xinjiang and Tibet and its close proximity to Central Asia, and enjoying a central position in the network of overland caravan routes that were linked to the Silk Route, Ladakh acted as an important gateway in the Indo-Central Asian exchange of men, materials and ideas through the ages.

Modi and the Reinvention of Indian Foreign Policy

Ian Hall, Bristol University Press, Bristol, UK, 2019, 236 pp., £75.00 (Hardback), ISBN 978-1529204605

Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance, Economic Impact, and Strategic Implications

Sujata Ashwarya, Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance, Economic Impact, and Strategic Implications, Routledge, London and New York, 2019, 312 pp., Rs.1,495 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-367-37503-4

India’s Eastward Engagement: From Antiquity to Act East Policy

COVID-19: Projecting the National Security Dimensions of Pandemics

National security—in its traditional sense—is associated with the protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a state, as well as its critical interests abroad. However, the lethal nature of pandemics is increasingly raising scientific awareness about their national security dimensions.

COVID-19: A Testing Time for UAE–India Relations? A Perspective from Abu Dhabi

Responses against COVID-19 have become one of the defining aspects of the modern-day state system that is testing the organic capacity of nations in particular and the international community in general. Even as most have put in place country-specific counter-COVID-19 measures, there is no denying the fact that the pandemic is an existential crisis that can only be dealt with through national efforts combined with substantial regional and international cooperation.

Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum

It is not often that Pakistan is talked of in terms of the diversities it embodies. It is, perhaps, its descent into extremism and violence that has overshadowed every other characteristic of the country. Tilak Devasher peeks into this rather less traversed dimension and provides an analysis on the festering insurgency in Balochistan. The book provides a lucid account of Balochistan’s history, geography, and demography.

Gambling with Violence: State Outsourcing of War in Pakistan and India

Yelena Biberman offers a new framework for understanding why and how states ‘outsource’ war to local non-state actors despite the risks of forfeiting the state’s monopoly over violence. Specifically, she explores state and non-state alliances in counter-insurgencies in India and Pakistan. Taking a qualitative approach, Biberman argues that ‘state-nonstate alliances are balance-of-interests bargains’ wherein the ‘state seeking to shift the local balance of power in its favor may enlist activists if it can cultivate social or ideological ties with them’

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Questions on Pakistan’s Economic Stability

This article begins with a discussion on how the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is viewed differently by different political parties as well as by the civilian and military establishments in Pakistan. The discussion then turns to Pakistan’s current economic conditions and examines whether CPEC has the potential to boost the Pakistan economy or contribute to the worsening of its economic conditions. This article also discusses how CPEC seeks to maintain a balance between geo-economic and geopolitics.

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.