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Dominance, Competition, and Adaptation: The US Quest for a Strategic Trifecta in the Indian Ocean
International Affairs Nov 25, 2024

Dominance, Competition, and Adaptation: The US Quest for a Strategic Trifecta in the Indian Ocean

The United States (US) is recalibrating its strategy in the Indian Ocean, driven by the region’s rapidly evolving geopolitical and geostrategic landscape. The US approach has moved from unilateral dominance to a more collaborative strategy that emphasises shared leadership through a technology-driven security paradigm. This ...

Towards A Comprehensive Framework for Public Transport System Planning in India
Urbanisation in India | Urbanisation Nov 23, 2024

Towards A Comprehensive Framework for Public Transport System Planning in India

Public transportation (PT) planning in Indian cities has historically focused on private vehicles and rail-based systems while neglecting bus-based transit. Such planning has led to fragmented urban mobility solutions. This study evaluates the effectiveness of PT systems planning in India by assessing the present state ...

Elections, Accountability, and Democracy in the Time of A.I.
Artificial Intelligence Nov 20, 2024

Elections, Accountability, and Democracy in the Time of A.I.

This paper assesses how a transformational technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used by malicious actors to manipulate information and influence election results. It analyses the impact of such activities, and explores ways by which democratic polities can address this challenge. Reviewing cases from ...

Finding an End to the Myanmar Crisis: ASEAN’s Massive Task
International Affairs Nov 13, 2024

Finding an End to the Myanmar Crisis: ASEAN’s Massive Task

Over three years since the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made little progress in helping resolve the crisis despite releasing a ‘Five-Point Consensus’ (5PC) in April 2021. The political crisis that followed the coup poses a challenge ...

Strengthening CBRN Security in India: Domestic Strategies and Global Collaborations
Nuclear Security Nov 06, 2024

Strengthening CBRN Security in India: Domestic Strategies and Global Collaborations

India’s geopolitically sensitive location and complex relationships with neighbours, global powers, and non-state actors necessitate national security strategies that include the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) domain. This paper discusses the current threat scenario related to CBRN technologies; it makes a case for leveraging ...

Historicising the Arthaśāstra: Early Fiscal-Military States in South Asia
Defence and Security | Indian Defence Oct 28, 2024

Historicising the Arthaśāstra: Early Fiscal-Military States in South Asia

The late-first millennium BCE Arthaśāstra is popularly known for its vile recommendations—a perception that tends to overshadow its far more comprehensive and holistic message on state-building. While the treatise itself gives no geographical or chronological pointers, this paper takes a historicist approach to contextualise it ...

From Poppy Fields to Black Markets: Understanding the Drug Trade Across India and Myanmar
Neighbourhood Oct 03, 2024

From Poppy Fields to Black Markets: Understanding the Drug Trade Across India and Myanmar

The 2023 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report highlights a surge in drug production in Myanmar, posing serious security challenges. The cultivation of poppy, key for heroin production, increased by 33 percent in 2022, reversing a downward trend seen since 2014. Experts attribute ...

The Middle Corridor: Reviving Connectivity for EU-Central Asia Trade and India’s Strategic Imperative
International Affairs | International Trade and Investment Sep 13, 2024

The Middle Corridor: Reviving Connectivity for EU-Central Asia Trade and India’s Strategic Imperative

In the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, this paper explores the changing dynamics of the European Union (EU)-Central Asia relationship. It emphasises the growing significance of the Middle Corridor—also known as Trans-Caspian International Transport Route connecting South East Asia with Europe—as a potential alternative route ...

The Dragon in the Maghreb: Assessing the BRI in North Africa
International Affairs Sep 05, 2024

The Dragon in the Maghreb: Assessing the BRI in North Africa

The Maghreb, often considered part of the Arab world, straddles the Euro-Mediterranean region, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula—a location that has given it a distinct history, political landscape, economy, and development trajectory. It is also emerging as an arena for great-power contestations, and is ...

Biden, Trump, and India-US Technology Partnership
International Affairs Aug 29, 2024

Biden, Trump, and India-US Technology Partnership

This paper assesses United States (US) presidents Donald J. Trump’s (2017-21) and Joe Biden’s (2021-present) respective records on the India-US technology partnership. During the Trump years, this domain of bilateral cooperation saw the finalisation of foundational agreements, including those on force interoperability, and new precedents ...

Contributors

Soumya Bhowmick

Soumya Bhowmick

Soumya Bhowmick is a Fellow and Lead, World Economies and Sustainability at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) at Observer Research Foundation (ORF). He is pursuing his PhD and holds a double master’s degree in economics from Jadavpur University, ...

Read More + Sreeparna Banerjee

Sreeparna Banerjee

Sreeparna Banerjee is an Associate Fellow in the Strategic Studies Programme. Her work focuses on the geopolitical and strategic affairs concerning two Southeast Asian countries, namely Myanmar and Thailand. Her primary focus is on the Rohingya issue within the Bay of ...

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