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The greatest impact of changing Sino-US relations will be on Asia, a primary theatre of interest for India. Beyond the simultaneous engagement with America and China, Delhi needs to deepen its partnership with its Asian friends and partners and raise India's own profile in the region.

The ‘Compact with Africa’ (CWA) is the main pillar of a renewed G20 partnership with the continent. Its objective is to attract more private investment to Africa, especially for infrastructure. African countries face the challenge of diversifying their economies and promoting industries and services that can absorb a rapidly growing labour force. Lack of investment and Africa’s massive infrastructure gap are major obstacles to this economic

The G20 Digital Agenda: Cross-Presidency Priorities white paper, co-authored by the World Economic Forum and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), underscores the importance of a cohesive digital strategy within the G20.

The role of digitalisation in the global economy has become increasingly crucial as the dependency on digital technologies has surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Establishing a digital economy involves utilising digitisation as the key factor of production in a broad range of economic activities. The G20 has recognised the importance of maximising benefits and minimising challenges from the development of the digital economy. Over the years, it h

The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the world of work. As new occupations are emerging in this digitised landscape, the skills and competencies required for jobs are evolving as well. This brief examines the skills gaps that persist across the G20 countries, and argues that they will need to adapt their education and training mechanisms to the changing skills requirements. Although nearly all presidencies of the G20 forum have prioritised youth

New Delhi has shed its past baggage with the West but Russia’s embrace of China poses a challenge.

President Trump’s implicit assessment of the value of the G20 Hamburg summit was best illustrated by letting his daughter replace him.

At a time when the world order is intensely polarised, India remains one of the few nations which can engage with both the G-7 and BRICS in a matter of days with élan.

This time around, it is probably fair to say that no “Wuhan spirit” can salvage bilateral relations.

Moves and counter-moves in Indo-Pak relations, like in a game of chess, continue to leave the actors in a mood to fight further. However, unlike in a game of chess, no endgame seems to be in the offing. This vicious circle of moves, counter moves, stalemate, warmongering, dialogues and so on is a direct impact of a precarious lack of an ultimate solution to the basic issue in Indo-Pak relations.

In order to stall an Operation Cactus redux, Beijing would have had to signal India that it has the muscle to push Indian forces out of the Maldives if it so chooses

It is a troubled world that we live in today. However, so far India has been a sea of tranquility and it is too early to say if there is a link between the storm brewing on both flanks, but the security agencies, indeed the entire country, have a task on their hands.

Nuclear weapons, the ultimate symbol of power, are no assurance or guarantees against blowback from religious radicalism. Only when the State decides to put a stop to this and takes a lead against the beliefs and practices of radicalism, will society learn to follow and resist.

The proverbial Global South seems to be showing a fragmented approach to the crisis

Two immediate observations can be made from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's address to the nation on July 22, 2005. One, he is not willing to take strong and decisive action against extremist and terrorist groups in Pakistan. Two, he cannot take such an action.

The global climate finance architecture tends to restrain emerging economies from mobilising and accessing global private commercial capital for energy transition. This brief explores the different global financial regulations that influence climate capital flows between countries, and argues that institutions must enhance their role in facilitating the optimal allocation of capital. It evaluates the role of Multilateral Development Banks from a

Structural changes need to be brought to allow different financial sectors to invest in the green future of developing nations.

Global supply chains are being restructured to achieve distinct geopolitical goals, given the strategic vulnerability of such networks due to being controlled by a few nations. Countries that are prominent sourcing hubs for some supply chains could potentially ‘weaponise’ their economic influence for larger geopolitical gains. This brief argues that although multiple global efforts have been initiated to address such threats, efforts

China's new gas pipelines from Myanmar will provide an alternative route for Beijing to import energy supplies. This is important for China given US maritime supremacy in the region. But the strategic advantage that Beijing gains out of the pipelines in the long-term depends on developments inside Myanmar and China's relations with it.

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, often hailed as a diplomatic triumph, aims to limit temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius (C), preferably to 1.5 degrees C, compared to pre-industrial levels. However, with the United Nations (UN) having failed to establish a method for putting a price on carbon, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise, and global temperatures increased by more than 1.2 degrees C in 2020. Already, experts warn

A survey shows wide youth support for the Modi government’s foreign policy.

The International Financial Architecture has come under much scrutiny following the 2008 global financial crisis. There have been demands for major reforms to the IFA; but despite the steps taken so far, much more needs to be done to ensure global financial stability.

Amid disruptive international crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, ensuring a secure energy supply for development requires focused efforts by individual countries and the international community. This report examines the global governance of the energy transition from the perspectives of the Latin American and Indo-Pacific regions. Despite their geographic distance, the two regions share similarities in their econ

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has historically been a key instrument of state power in modern China, from the time founder Mao Zedong famously said that power flows “from the barrel of a gun.” Today, in the era of Xi Jinping, China is strengthening its defence diplomacy through Xi’s so-called Global Security Initiative (GSI) that envisions a growing role for the Party-state’s arms like the PLA and the Ministry of Public Security. T

Asia’s growing space race is indicative of the larger geopolitical competition in the region. China’s rise and the strategic uncertainties it has created are particularly worrying to India and Japan, leading to surprisingly fast-growing India-Japan strategic cooperation.

The idea was to capture the different dimensions of the war on terror as has been perceived and to locate the war in the larger geo political context in order to appreciate and understand the consequences, according to Dr Ashley Tellis, a well-known senior US policy analyst.

There has rarely been a period in modern history, when the world has not been confronted with terrorism; somewhere or the other, in some form or another, for some reason or the other. As a mean of coercion through violence, terrorism ebbs and flows and keeps undergoing many mutations.

Germany’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has earned it almost all-round approval. This special report argues that there is indeed much that German policy has gotten right. But it is also important to keep an eye on the limitations and failings, for which Germany – and other countries that seek to emulate it – might end up paying a very dear price. In contrast, a timely correction of some aspects of German policy could help pre-empt bo

Eminent Indian nuclear scientists have been expressing their concern about the contents and direction of the Indo-US nuclear deal signed last July. Strategic analysts, former diplomats, prominent politicians and knowledgeable commentators have repeatedly cautioned the government about the minefields ahead. Ought not the government pause and clear these doubts? There is little effort towards this end, and we all seem to be running blind.

In an effort to financially hobble Iran, the United States mandated nations to halt their imports of crude from the country by early November, or else risk attracting sanctions themselves from Washington. Not long after, the US announced that eight nations will be exempted from these sanctions, supposedly in recognition of their effort to cut down on their imports of Iranian oil. This brief argues that while it is true that certain countries did

The Obama Administration is putting it out as though the withdrawal is a great achievement. But the reality is shoddier - we are witnessing yet another western retreat from Afghanistan, one that can have baleful consequences for others.

Taking a lesson from the past, India should resist re-engaging with Pakistan.

The forthcoming general election is being watched with bated breath and ever increasing curiosity by different observers. Although the election arithmetic remains more or less the same as it was in 1999, the sheer intensity in which the election is being fought and the issues that are being contested in the public debate may have some implications on the future of Indian politics.

The political funding reforms are an embarrassment to India’s claims of heralding a transparency revolution

The “marks moderation” debate, which made headlines this summer, [1] resulted in a frenzied, but incomplete, media coverage. There has been litigation as well, stalling the declaration of high-school results of students of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), and various state boards. This brief aims to demonstrate how the reliance on a simplistic metric—of a 101-