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This brief examines how fear and anxiety during a disease outbreak can be exploited by state and non-state actors to further their political, strategic, or ideological agendas. Such fear, compounded by religious and cultural strife, or unfamiliarity with socio-cultural beliefs can provide fertile ground for the spread of misinformation from malicious actors. The brief illustrates these patterns using examples where information had been we

Russia’s war on Ukraine, interrupted value chains, and increased regionalisation are putting pressures on the already-strained multilateral trading system. Though a strong World Trade Organization (WTO) is needed to navigate these challenges, the organisation risks becoming irrelevant if far-reaching reforms are not implemented as soon as possible. In the short- and medium-term, WTO members must agree on limiting export barriers, especi

Trusted connectivity, diversified sources of materials, and resilient financial and trading arrangements have become a strategic imperative for India

In our dealings with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, we have often appeared defensive, occasionally apologetic, leading to a bleeding heart syndrome among some of us. This approach ignores that Pakistan has cynically used violence, and the world has allowed it to do so, as an instrument of foreign policy. This attitude also mixes sympathy and concern for the innocent with that for the terrorist.

The ‘crown jewel’ of the World Trade Organization (WTO) — the dispute resolution mechanism — is facing a crisis. The US obstruction to new appointments in the WTO’s Appellate Body (AB) has frozen the appeals process and brought the mechanism to a halt. Until such crisis is resolved, New Delhi will need to explore other means for resolving its current and future trade disputes. This paper outlines interim solutions that India can emplo

Established in 1995, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement System (DSS) is used to resolve trade-related disputes between WTO member states. It has received over 500 complaints since its inception, and utilises both political negotiation and adjudication for dispute resolution. Today the DSS faces an unprecedented crisis due to US obstruction, which may render the system effectively dysfunctional by late 2019. It is likely tha

The recent Wuhan summit between India and China has been called many things: from a “game changer” to a much needed “reset” in Indian-China relations. It has generated expectations in the two countries that they will avoid any clash due to miscalculation and error. This has strengthened the tradition that India and China have maintained since the Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement of 1993, of resolving problems bilaterally through dia

2014 by far has been the most chaotic year in international politics, since the end of the Cold War. The Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East threaten to upturn borders settled for close to a century. Europe is in the throes of an unexpected tussle with Moscow. In the South and East China seas, China's aggressiveness is too clear now to be ignored.

Much needs to be done and our destination is still several countries away — the 73 million Indians living in extreme poverty today add up to more than the populations of Thailand, France and the UK.

With increasing awareness of the role that a healthy and clean environment plays in the well-being of societies, governments are adopting environment-friendly approaches in the conduct of development activities. This brief examines the environment planning proposals contained in the draft Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) for the period 2021-41. Although the MPD proposes many new ideas to improve prevailing conditions as well as a framework to monitor

Despite advancements in legislation and representation over the last decades, women continue to face barriers in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare, legal protection against violence, and leadership roles. In the economic sphere, gender disparities persist in labour force participation, job sectors, wages, and unpaid care work. Women are constrained in participating in the labour market as their social role remains attached to domestic

While the supreme leader is there for life (or till he chooses to retire), the president is limited to two four-year terms, defining where the balance of power rests between them

Ambassador of the European Union to India, Dr. Joao Cravinho, admits that the current problem is "big" and it is "about the EU project", but he also believes that "the EU has the strength to deal with Greece" and that it has come out stronger after every crisis it has been facing in the past.

India's former National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan thinks that challenges posed by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor were far greater, as it directly impinged on India's sovereignty and security. He feels that this is a far graver issue than the India-China border dispute.

Far too many times, states make the mistake of not recognising that they are confronted with insurgencies. Fearing the supposed legitimising effect of affording 'miscreants' the title of insurgents, they prefer to describe violent movements as law and order problems, situation, the troubles, and of course, terrorism.

In Tamil Nadu, the inspiration and inputs for the protestors come not from Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka, but from their Diaspora groups whose linkages to the LTTE are discernible.

The demand for an Asian NATO remains negligible in Southeast Asia. This is because most countries are convinced that a multilateral security architecture will only elevate regional insecurities, and make them subservient to great power contestations

Much in the manner that the Sino-American dﾂtente transformed the Asian balance of power in the 1970s, the construction of a strong strategic partnership between India and America is bound to change the Asian geopolitical order and rejig the regional alignments.

What has happened in Balakot is a punitive strike against known camps of terrorists — especially Jaish-e-Mohammed.

India need not bite the bait, it can use the space created for pushing its own agenda with China which includes resolving our border dispute, getting the Pakistani monkey off our backs and getting better terms of trade from the Chinese. China is unlikely to yield anything easily, but if the emerging Indo-Pacific geopolitics provides an opportunity, New Delhi would be foolish to look the other way.

The defence budget is shrinking. The CDS can play a key role in ensuring the most efficient use of resources

Coinciding with the third anniversary of the start of the US military strikes in Afghanistan on October 7,2004,code-named Op. Enduring Freedom, terrorist elements, suspected to be from Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF), have carried out four co-ordinated terrorist strikes involving explosives on October 7 and 8,2004.

The ICT supply chain in India is only as strong as its weakest link: the end user. If the user is from rural India, with a limited understanding of the devices and transactions she accesses, her device is a point of vulnerability.

The security problem of Japan is something of a Gordian Knot. A feeling is spreading among Japanese that they have seen the American forces on their land for too long, for sixty-five years continuously, and the people are fed up with them.

The Government of India is reported to have advised a short postponement of the departure of the Indian cricket team to Bangladesh to play in some matches against the Bangladesh team at Dhaka and Chittagong following the receipt at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka of a fax message purported to have been signed by an organisation called Harkat-ul-Jihad warning of dire consequences if the team went ahead with the visit.

Tensions between the United States of America and Russia over the deployment of a ballistic missile defence system by the US in eastern Europe are sharpening. Japan is deploying such a system to ward off the North Korean missile threat.

Amidst all the fuss surrounding Trump’s tariffs and counter-measures, it is too easy to forget an important and empowering idea — tariffs, ultimately, are what we make of them

India should be pleased that US President Barrack Obama acknowledged India as a global player, and an equal partner in dealing with crucial issues not only in Asia, but also in the world.

Nepal Maoist leader Prachanda's proposal for trilateral cooperation between Nepal, India and China is his big idea. But his geopolitical epiphany could soon be a forgotten footnote if India and China can?t find ways to ensure peace and tranquility on their long and contested boundary.

Terrorism, water and Afghanistan form facets of the wide range of issues which allow possible collaboration between India and Pakistan. These include trade and commerce, energy sharing, increased transport, communication links and simplified visa procedures.

June 4th was the fifteenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Incident. In 1989, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was widely reviled for its violent handling of peaceful student protests. The crackdown prompted stringent political censure of the CCP by the international community and economic sanctions were imposed against China.

The relationship between India and Sweden has always been low-key. But it's also mature one with immense possibilities for cooperation and collaboration.

India's Afghanistan policy has for long been hos tage to the vagaries of policy making in Washington and the enormous baggage of myths and wishful thinking which burden its strategic outlook.

As Chief Minister Omar Abdullah dithers in finding amicable solutions to the ongoing violence in Kashmir, the nation is desperately awaiting an intervention by the Prime Minister to find an amicable solution to the festering row.

India and China must bilaterally develop a substantial conversation on the cutting edge of global governance issues, including issues of the global commons like climate change, water, health and medicine, and Asian security architecture, as well as issues of space and proliferation, of rules and mechanisms of economic governance, and on new arenas of maritime and ocean governance.