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This paper analyses the contentious idea of a nexus between public opinion and foreign policy agendas, focusing on the Indian context. The paper examines the history of the discourse and outlines the key ideological divergences and events that have shaped the inquiry. It then traces the public opinion-foreign policy linkage in the Indian context, and frames the analysis against other representative democracies, specifically the United States. Usi

Since Ibrahim Solih’s election as president of Maldives in 2018, India and Maldives have been working to revive their previously strained relations. The relationship faces an enduring threat, however, in the form of the ‘India Out’ campaign spearheaded by opposition parties. Although limited to certain sections of the Maldivian polity, the campaign has fuelled anti-India public sentiments, in turn becoming consequential to India-Maldives re

MEA budget reflects geoeconomic shift, but institutional challenges persist.

Sustainable finance emerged as a key issue to tackle climate change at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference and is spurring a global transition to net zero. A peculiar feature of the race to net zero is that it cannot be achieved unless all countries can meet their targets, and any positive step towards it will benefit all countries. The drive to achieve carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions needs to be targeted through a range of

Natural gas is an efficient bridge fuel between high-emission fuels and renewable energy systems. Due to limited conventional natural gas reserves, India imports more than half of its natural gas requirements. Increased production of natural gas from domestically available resources could help India reduce gas imports, achieve national emission intensity targets, and honour international climate commitments. Marine gas hydrates ar

India is all set to begin serious efforts to secure a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC). Two years of non-permanent membership after 19 long years with rotating Presidency of the Council twice over the next two years will mark India's innings.

India's nuclear doctrine and strategy still continues to harp on the mantra of "minimum credible deterrent", even though Pakistan has now overtaken India in the number of nuclear warheads it possesses. Some analysts say that there are no signs that the Pakistani buildup is slowing down.

The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) India-China Centre (Kolkata) in association with the University of Calcutta, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (Kolkata), and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, supported a seminar on Urban Experiences: India, China and the Chinese Indians. The seminar was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kolkata on August 5, 2008 at the Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, Calc

Acknowledging health as a central component of urban planning and governance will help achieve health SDGs and ensure policy coherence.

Vehicular congestion and insufficient parking facilities are significant emerging challenges for India’s mega and metropolitan cities, severely impairing mobility. Although curtailed by constitutional mandates, many Indian cities are seeking to resolve the issue through parking policies, focusing on regulations, pricing as a management tool, new technologies, and off-street parking provisions. This brief assesses the parking policies of Ahmedab

Indian cities have long struggled with the challenge of inadequate housing amidst rapid urbanisation and worsening urban poverty. Government policies have failed to fill the gap, focused as they are on ownership housing alone and neglecting rental housing. The 2015 draft National Urban Rental Housing Policy and 2019 draft Model Tenancy Act aim to rectify this situation. For these policies to be successful, however—and for India to realise its g

India’s development trajectory is closely tied to urbanisation. This brief critiques the existing urban planning framework in the country, examining the gaps and unique challenges posed by urbanisation and the impacts of climate change in hilly cities. The brief focuses on India’s ecologically sensitive Himalayan ecosystem, which have historically received little attention in urbanisation discourse. The region’s hilly urban areas have uniqu

The limited development of India's maritime capacities is a cause for strategic concern, especially considering the impact on the nation's economy, which is currently dependent on sea-borne trade for its well being.

India needs to improve its border infrastructure in the background of the changing geopolitics of Asia that will increasingly be shaped by Sino-Indian relations, pointed out a panel discussion on "India's Border Infrastructure" at ORF.

In Pathankot and again in Uri, we have seen the perimeter breached too easily.

After initial fumbles, US clearly planned the path ahead beginning April 2020. India could have learnt from this.

Austin is set to land in India on Friday, for a visit that aims to deepen defense cooperation between the United States and India.

The US elections are less than two months away and the campaign is reaching its pinnacle.

While India watches the elections with interest, whether it is a Republican or a Democrat who comes to power, US-India ties are set to improve because of bipartisan consensus in the US that the relationship has to grow stronger in view of shared concerns and interests in the Indo Pacific.

New Delhi needs the incoming US administration to address the threat of Pakistan based terror in the aftermath of the US election result

Even as Washington expects India to be a net security provider in the Indo-Pacific region, the country is offering itself as a key partner in managing the cyber oceans. The US must now reciprocate.

The United States needs to treat India as an exception given the uniqueness of the US-India relationship, argues Dr. Anit Mukherjee of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore.

India is still coming to grips with the emerging multi-polar world order and managing great power relations still appears to be a major challenge for Delhi. India is keen on developing stronger partnership with the US. But, on the other hand, it is also concerned about the reaction of China and, increasingly, of Russia.

The Trump administration’s attempts to create another West Asia crisis should worry India.

The drastic and sudden drop in Venezuelan and Iranian oil exports to India in 2019-2020, due to the looming threat of US secondary sanctions, is the latest supply chain disruption to India’s energy security. To avoid similar disruptions in the future, India must act decisively to increase its Strategic Petroleum Reserves to meet at least 90 days of emergency oil stocks, and combine lobbying efforts between India’s private and public oil compa

Sanctions, a mechanism to penalise international legal violations, usually prohibit nationals of the “sanctioning country” from engaging in specified activities with the “targeted country.” Secondary or extraterritorial sanctions, on the other hand, penalise third-country individuals and companies for dealing with sanctioned countries. Recent measures adopted by the US—the enactment of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanc

The India-US joint statement speaks of the convergence of interests of the two countries, with President Obama welcoming India's emergence as a major regional and global power and affirming his country's interest in India's rise.

The benefits that India enjoyed for many years under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme of the United States was withdrawn, effective 5 June 2018. India was the largest beneficiary of the programme, of which it has been part since its inception in 1974. This paper evaluates the impact of the withdrawal on specific sectors of Indian exports. For comparison, the paper uses the Harmonized System Code (HS Code) Commodity Classifica

US President Barak Obama's latest "surge" in Af-Pak policy is unlikely to succeed largely because of huge challenges imposed by geography and the seemingly intractable ethnic divisions in Afghanistan makes success

That India-US ties are at the nexus of a new beginning shaping the Indo-Pacific is no surprise. PM Modi's second visit to the US at the beginning of his second year in office only reiterates the importance of this relationship.

It is a reality today that the US-India relationship is on a somewhat arid plateau. It is unable to meet the expectations placed on it and the reason for that is the increasing lack of what can be called "strategic trust" between New Delhi and Washington.

At a conference on 'Building Pan Asian Connectivity' in Kolkata, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma has said the Asia policy of the United States and India's Act East policy can work in complementary ways to increase regional trade and growth.

India and the United States, as established space-faring nations, should work together to clearly and publicly define what behavior the international community should find both acceptable and unacceptable,

The average tariff rate for WTO member countries was down to nine per cent in 2013.

The US has done some serious weight-lifting to break down its own barriers to closer defence ties with India, and has taken away the plank that it isn't sincere. Can India do the same? Dr. Carter and his team have left a legacy which can be built upon. It is just the end of the beginning.

The healthcare industry is undergoing an unprecedented change. The affordability and quality of healthcare are being profoundly affected by increased globalization, competition, cost consciousness, regulations and new technologies. The US is expected to spend up to 20% of GDP on healthcare by 2015.

The United States-India relations reached a high point when the two countries signed the Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2005. But since then, relations between the two countries have drifted. Both the countries must move ahead to build trust and cooperation in other areas.