Xi Jinping’s Anti-Corruption Campaign: Party Strategy or Way Forward to Corruption-free China

June 22, 2019

This paper reflects upon the intentions behind the campaign and underlines that it is as much a reform to bolster the political economy of China as it is a move to establish President Xi’s authority over the government and the party, by purging corrupt elements and potential political adversaries. The success of the campaign hinges upon the ability of China to undertake structural reforms that discourage corruption and create a more open and transparent system to address the needs of aspirational China.

Hanoi Summit: A Trump-Kim Fiasco

March 13, 2019

The first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore (June 2018) much was expected from the second summit held during late February 2019 at Hanoi. The first round was historic but the second round turned out to be a disaster with the summit ended abruptly. After the first summit, North Korea had begun to dismantle a missile engine test stand at Sohae. Post the failure of the second summit, however, some reconstruction has been noticed at this site. Is this symptomatic of the failure of diplomacy or it is bit premature to write an obituary of peace in the Korean peninsula? This issue brief analyses the ongoing efforts towards resolving the North Korean riddle. 

India-Russia: Working Towards A Robust Military-Technical Cooperation

February 15, 2019

Global security architecture has undergone a tremendous shift since the First World War. However, the one thing that has dominated the evolution of security structures since that time has been the importance of technological advances. It is important to note that the shifting power balance that exists between nations today has major dependence on technological revolutions. In fact, over the years, growth in science and technological innovations has mostly happened due to the demands of the military and armed forces influencing and assisting the stimulation of science and technology.

Digital Diplomacy: India’s Increasing Digital Footprints

Digital Diplomacy: India’s Increasing Digital Footprints

Social media has revolutionized the world from the lowest to the highest strata of the society. Diplomacy is one such aspect of the globalized world that social media has transformed. The foreign policy of any state can only be achieved through the practice of diplomacy. When states practice diplomacy with the help of social media to achieve facets of their foreign policy, it is known as Digital diplomacy.

Saurabh Singh
December 2018

Cooperation or Competition with China in the Indian Ocean: An Indian Perspective

November 15, 2018

About one-fifth of the total oceanic area in the world is covered by the Indian Ocean region. It is bound by the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, collectively known as the western Indian Ocean region, India’s coastal waters (the central Indian Ocean region) and the Bay of Bengal near Myanmar and Indonesia (the eastern Indian Ocean region). To meet the demand for energy reserves, approximately 33 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum are transported from the most important choke points in the Indian Ocean per day, including the straits of Hormuz and Malacca (Albert, 2016).

Ultimate Upheaval: Revisiting the Nuclear Winter Scenario and Other Possible Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War

This paper attempts to compile nuclear events, including weapon use and tests as well as debates surrounding nuclear winter. It also briefly discusses these devastating environmental effects in the light of a hypothetical nuclear war between two South Asian nuclear neighbours.

ANIMESH ROUL
September 2018

Two Decades of OPCW

April 29, 2017

On April 29,1997,the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the first ever multilateral disarmament agreement entered into force along with the birth of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an international chemical weapons disarmament regime, after years of negotiations under the auspices of United Nation’s Conference on Disarmament. and Preparatory Commission. The OPCW’s objective is to accomplish the Convention’s mandate ‘to end the development, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons’. It also has to ensure the ‘elimination of existing stocks of such weapons’. Two decade later, on the twentieth anniversary of OPCW it is imperative to recollect the journey so far and also to ascertain whether the regime succeeded in making the world safer from the threat of chemical weapons or warfare.This issue brief takes a broad overview of the journey of CWC and OPCW during the last two decades.

Strengthening India’s External Intelligence Infrastructure: An Assessment

In absence of a national security strategy (NSS), the task of intelligence agencies in India has failed to be systemic. India’s intelligence infrastructure lacks a holistic view and very less effort has been put to reorganize intelligence infrastructure on the basis of contemporary threat perceptions. Without a strong security infrastructure country cannot eye towards becoming a regional power. Due to a rigid security system, India has a disparate intelligence mechanism in service. While little effort has gone towards synergizing all sources of intelligence and request dissemination in real time/ near real time basis. This paper attempts to outline a number of points, which would help to develop a more superior external intelligence infrastructure.

SHANTANU K. BANSAL
August 2016