Strategic Analysis

Since taking over power in 2012, the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s key initiative has been to make the Communist Party of China (CPC) relevant in the function of China’s political system. However, when Xi Jinping argues for a ‘unified and absolute leadership of the Party, it has become co-terminous with his absolute control of the Party. What does this centralisation of power signify? Given this context, it is imperative to question under whose control is the Chinese Army. That is, does CPC as an organisation hold absolute command over the PLA or it is Xi Jinping who controls it?

• Amrita Jash
• November 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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A flurry of changes in India’s national security apparatus in the recent past have been the subject of public discussion. These include the constitution of a Defence Procurement Committee under the chairmanship of the National Security Advisor (NSA), the replacement of the Cabinet Secretary with the NSA as the head of India’s Strategic Policy Group (SPG), and the appointment of three new Deputy National Security Advisors (Dy. NSAs), and a Military Advisor (only the second such appointment in a period of four years). Further, the mandate of the Dy.

• Zubin Dash
• November 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The question of autonomy or self-determination in Myanmar goes back to the country’s pre-independence era. It is an important historical issue which unified and divided the country. The idea of forming a union government that would grant equal status to all citizens brought together different ethnic groups at the Panglong conference in 1947. However, the country’s conflicts remain and efforts are on to address the decades-old problems. One possible solution widely discussed is federalism.

• Nehginpao Kipgen
• November 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The Peloponnesian war was fought from 431 to 401 BC between the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and the Athenian Empire, known as the Delian League led by Pericles, the ruler of Athens. In the initial phase of the war, Thucydides (460–395 BC) was removed from command by the Athenian government after he failed as the commanding general to prevent a Spartan occupation of Amphipolis. He was exiled for 20 years. This came as a blessing in disguise for the scholar in him. The exiled general now had the scholarly atmosphere of solitude to write his book as the war was fought.

• P. K. Gautam
• November 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The socio-politico-economic scene in India’s North-east region has guided certain aspects of the country’s domestic and international policy. The Act East Policy (AEP) of the government of India aims to build relations with the countries of South-East Asia, including trade relations, for which the north-east serves as the gateway. This article seeks to analyse the relevance of the policy: How is it grounded in the complex region of north-east India? In what way can it impact the region?

• Raile Rocky Ziipao
• September 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Energy security has evolved to become strategically important for countries, such that the domestic availability of energy resources, coupled with the national energy demand, as well as import and export dependencies on energy resources, have important implications for a country’s economic growth, human development and strategic autonomy. This is especially important for India, which is heavily dependent on imports to meet its domestic energy demand.

• Niharika Tagotra
• September 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Mara E. Karlin in her book, Building Militaries in Fragile States: Challenges for the United States, investigates when, why and under what circumstances, US efforts to build partner militaries for internal defence succeeded and also offers some suggestions for improvement. The efforts examined include key decisions, programme execution and the nature of the US involvement with the partner state. She criticises US military interventions in what she calls ‘fragile states’ as unsustainable, thinly successful so far and fundamentally flawed.

• Harriet Njoki Mboce
• September 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has provided a most readable account of his upbringing, his stint in the US National Security Council and his ambassadorships to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations. With his political sense and candour, he explains to readers how after winning easy military victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, American efforts there so quickly lost direction and became examples of how not to intervene in difficult areas. Having ready access to high-ranking US administration officials, Ambassador Khalilzad was luckier than his American homologues serving in foreign capitals.

• Jayant Prasad
• September 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has quietly functioned as one of the main arteries through which Afghanistan’s massive opium crop reaches the outer world. Six of the nine major drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan transit through Balochistan en route to Iran, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Afghanistan’s opium production peaked at 9,000 tons in 2017, on account of the country’s rampant instability and lack of viable options for families to sustain themselves.

• Sandhya Jain
• September 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Power trading across borders is not a new concept, even in the subcontinent. However, it has been sporadic and unstructured and often not in strict consonance with the requirements of national security. This article seeks to make out a case for using energy security and cross border power trade, as one of the ‘soft power’ tools to further our national security.

• Sanjay Mitra , Richa Misra
• September 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis
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