Strategic Analysis

Based on the work of the Maritime Security Working Group within the Strategic Studies Network (SSN), this report provides both diagnosis and prescriptions regarding security threats in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The IOR, a large maritime area that extends from coastal Africa through the Middle East and South Asia and on to Australia, is a major conduit for global trade, a littoral zone of developing powers, and the focus of a series of rising security challenges.

• The ‘Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)’ Working Group of the Strategic Studies Network (SSN)
• July 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Nigeria is currently going through a very delicate phase. The kidnapping of more than 275 Chibok schoolgirls by the terrorist organisation Boko Haram shocked not only Nigeria but the international community at large. This act by Boko Haram was widely criticised and led to worldwide condemnation and an international rescue effort. More seriously, the group leader Shekhau threatened to sell the girls into slavery and used Islamic teachings as justification.

• Aslam Khan
• July 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Since assuming the throne on January 23, 2015 following the death of King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s new monarch, King Salman, seems to have set about the task of shaking up the ultraconservative kingdom. The punishment or pardoning of Raef Badawi became the litmus test of the new Saudi monarch’s reign as the blogger’s sentence coincided with the last days of the ailing King Abdullah and King Salman was compelled to face his personal past as promoter of Islamic fundamentalism abroad.

• Sandhya Jain
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Will India and China resolve their boundary dispute during the tenure of Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping? The strategic communities in both countries are optimistic, particularly after the high tension prevailing along the border during President Xi Jinping’s tour of India in September 2014. Both Prime Minister Modi and President Xi are seen as decisive leaders.1 Both are expected to hold power in their respective countries for a few years to come. Personalities and personas matter greatly for scoring political brownie points. The boundary dispute, quintessentially, is political in nature.

• Jagannath P. Panda
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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After a successful visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Colombo in March, Indian policy elite are hopeful that the new Sri Lankan government will roll-back some of the geopolitical concessions made by the Rajapaksa regime to Beijing, thereby restoring India’s primacy in its near neighbourhood. India’s policy elite are hopeful that Maithripala Sirisena, the new president, will roll back some of the geopolitical concessions made by his predecessor to Beijing, thereby restoring Indian primacy in its near neighbourhood.

• Abhijit Singh
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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China has reoriented its foreign policy strategy since Xi Jinping became president. This could significantly recast China’s relations with Asian countries. The process that began with Xi Jinping’s coming to power in 2012–2013 reached, in a sense, a definitive moment, with the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs held in Beijing in November 2014.

• Avinash Godbole
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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A visa is issued to facilitate an individual’s travel to another country in a regulated way. There are agreements between some countries on a no-visa regime; however, most countries do follow some sort of visa system. Typically, a visa allows a person to travel to the destination country as far as the port of entry (airport, seaport or land border crossing) and advises the immigration officer to allow the visitor to enter the country.

• Sandeep Chakravorty , Sumit Chaturvedi
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Witness to three fully fledged coups, Pakistan’s beleaguered political history has been consistently punctured with prolonged stints of military rule. Although a democratic state in principle, it is the episodic rule by the military that has inflicted Pakistan’s political destiny and shaped its political culture and practices. In May 2013, there was a rather peaceful transition—the first of its kind—from one popularly elected incumbent government to another.

• Priyanka Singh
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Symbolism in Terrorism: Motivation, Communication, and Behavior explores an important but under-represented aspect of terrorism: the meanings of both physical and non-physical symbols in terrorism, and how culture, belief systems and internal and external forces come to create such symbolic meanings and processes. Jonathan Matusitz, the author of the book, manages to ‘unpack’ this clearly through 16 chapters that each take a different angle in explaining the origins and reasons of various forms of terrorism (both past and current).

• Updesh Kumar
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Australia has a vital interest in preventing the Indian Ocean Region from becoming an arena of great power rivalry, including between India and China. The 2013 Defence White Paper clearly delineates the Indo-Pacific as an area of supreme importance to Australia. Developing a close strategic partnership with India is an important part of this strategy.

• Melissa H. Conley Tyler , Aakriti Bhutoria
• May 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis
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