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The Kartarpur corridor, inaugurated in November 2019, is regarded as an important peacemaking measure between India and Pakistan. Various international organisations have welcomed the corridor, including the United Nations. Drawing from history, this brief argues that opening a pilgrimage corridor or renovating a place of worship, and other such attempts to bridge India and Pakistan using religious sentiment inevitably fail to address the deep-ro

India may well be considered a middle power aspiring to be a great power of global importance. India¿s ruling class has successfully shrugged off its initial aversion to perceive power as a category having a place of its own outside the ideological fortress of morality.

Nuclear cooperation has brought a new dimension to India’s diplomacy in the 21st century. India’s status as a responsible nuclear power is predicated upon the civil relationships in the nuclear domain that it has established with major powers. This, despite not being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and operating outside the ambit of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This brief analyses the impact of key agreements with different count

India has a role to play in global climate diplomacy, with its large population, fast-growing economy, and vulnerabilities to the consequences of climate change. Utilising a review of existing literature, this brief evaluates the country’s involvement in international climate forums in the past decade, its negotiation strategies and policy coherence, and their effectiveness. It finds that India’s strategy for climate diplomacy has aimed for a

In the past decade, India has successfully demonstrated the three pillars of effective deterrence—capability, credibility, and communication—in its strategic posture towards China. It has bolstered its defence diplomacy with key partners in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and across the broader Indo-Pacific region, through regular joint military exercises, military officers exchange programmes, frequent high-level diplomatic visits, and the co

The moves are to reduce India’s strategic vulnerability, but there are issues that need to be resolved

The world’s pharmacy is looking to inoculations to build friendly ties around the world—and compete with China.

As New Delhi and Taipei draw closer together, the map of the Asia-Pacific could change for good.

India must continue to remain politically engaged with Tehran despite its partnership plan with China

At the recent seventh Japan-Mekong Summit in Tokyo in the first week of July, both Japan and the Mekong countries reiterated their resolve to implement an ambitious cooperation programme called New Tokyo Strategy 2015 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation for the three years covering 2016-18.

Japan's new Prime Minister understands very well that peace and strategic stability in East Asia would depend on how effectively Japan and the US maintain their security alliance. And the Obama administration is supportive of Abe's moves and would be interested in initiating regular triangular security talks with Tokyo and Seoul.

Canada’s world-class energy resources and national interests in global energy diplomacy must be articulated coherently and to the fullest

A Male criminal court's sentencing of former President Mohammed Nasheed on 'terrorism charges' for 13 years in prison has revived 'democracy-deficit' charges and consequent global (read: West) discourse, this time against the government of incumbent President Abdulla Yameen.

While it may be necessary to keep channels to Pakistan open, so long as the Pakistan military remains the arbiter of Pakistan's destiny, it may be prudent to keep in mind what may be in store for both India and Afghanistan.

India has always been shy of adding a religious tint to its foreign policy. In the last decade, however, the aspiring global power began engaging in what has come to be called 'Buddhist diplomacy' in its outreach to countries in the South, East and Southeast Asia. 􀀫e prime minister is diligently pursuing India's 'Buddhist agenda' and taking it beyond its borders, emphasising the Indian and Hindu links with Buddhism. Concurrently, another Asian

One hopes that by the time Modi gets to places like Janakpur, Lumbini and Muktinath, India would have taken concrete steps towards the promotion of trans-border connectivity and tourism between the two countries.

Cricket has always come in handy for India and Pakistan leaders to break political ice at difficult moments. And this World Cup has provided Modi with an opportunity to end the current diplomatic impasse. Modi called up Sharif to wish Pakistan well in the Cup and offered to send the new foreign secretary to Islamabad.

Myanmar's military chief General Min Aung Hlaing's recent India visit is another significant step in Myanmar's military diplomacy. Myanmar knows its interest lies in keeping a balanced military engagement with major powers and it would be the last that would want a strategic rivalry of the great powers be played out in its country.

Needs Based Sharing Model and hydro diplomacy were among the many solutions that were suggested by experts at a discussion on "River of Conflict or Rivers of Peace - Water Sharing between India and China'' at Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata.

For Afghanistan, it was the first time that it entered into any such strategic pact with any country as it did with India.

That economic diplomacy through the Northeast has over-shadowed security-related concerns in India's regional diplomacy is a major departure from the past. Connectivity has been identified as a priority area of the Modi government.

In search of saliency in the Obama visit, pundits have missed out on "Indo-US" co-operation in Afghanistan, a major shift since the narrative so far has been about US-Pak collaboration in the Af-Pak theatre.

As a responsible nuclear power, India is ready to work with like-minded countries in strengthening the global non-proliferation system. That was the clear message from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his recent joint press conference with the visiting German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

After Operation Sindoor, India has established new conditions for dialogue with Pakistan, focusing solely on terrorism and PoK. As a strategic partner, New Delhi expects Washington to acknowledge these conditions and avoid hyphenating India with Pakistan

Paradiplomacy as it is conducted by sub-state governments introduces the idea of decentralisation of political power to make regional governments prominent actors in the international sphere. This paper examines the scope for subnational diplomacy in India, as the country seeks to appreciate the significance of federalism and regionalism in promoting local interests, as well as identity, in current international politics. Regional governments ope

After much bonhomie in Beijing, PM Modi has moved on to raise India's strategic profile in two key states on China's periphery - Mongolia and South Korea. Although geography limits New Delhi's role in East Asia, Modi is betting India can win friends and partners through active engagement.

There will soon be two important changes in the Nepal and India diplomacy, which are of significant importance to both the countries. Nepal's ambassador to India, Rukma Shumsher Rana, has been recalled while the Indian envoy to Nepal Rakesh Sood will be replaced by another career diplomat.

After the UNHRC meeting and the Indian vote against Sri Lanka, now it needs to go beyond Geneva, in the preservation of 'supreme national self-interest' in the case of both the countries. The ghost of Geneva would be hovering over them, yet Colombo should acknowledge the un-kept promises.

Shared concerns over China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific are pushing Japan and the Philippines to foster a strategic partnership, particularly in the maritime domain. This brief examines the evolving dynamics of the Tokyo-Manila strategic relationship in the context of a tenuous Indo-Pacific. It traces the evolution of Japan’s defence engagement from post-Second World War pacifism to taking on a more proactive regional security

This brief tackles the crucial role of public diplomacy in enhancing India's global influence. It argues that India should exert effort to communicate its rich cultural heritage and economic growth story to foreign audiences, and recommends a roadmap that involves linking public diplomacy to national security, the establishment of a specialised public diplomacy agency, and creating the position of a chief public diplomat. A well-structured public

As a tool of diplomacy, forum summits have allowed countries to interact, exchange views, and work together to cooperate on issues of mutual interest. This is true for the African continent, where there is a recent surge in high-level summits involving heads of state, ministers, and civil society organisations. These ‘Africa+1’ summits have provided countries in the continent with an institutional platform to engage with both traditional and

With her visit to China now, Suu Kyi has travelled to three of the five immediate neighbours of Myanmar.

India can proposition an Aadhaar-based alternative — one that is seen to be a ‘privacy first’ solution that lets governments retain jurisdiction over their data, while allowing indigenous enterprises to flourish.

In this shadowed theatre of subcontinental power, the art of war must be tempered by the craft of diplomacy.

What are the gains that diplomacy on counter-terrorism, resolutions of the UN Security Council and other such multilateral instruments bring to the table?

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

Infrastructure development and connectivity paradigms are emerging as domains of geopolitical contestation between rival powers. This competition is fiercest in the Indo-Pacific region, home to roughly half of the global population and accounting for around 60 percent of the world's economy. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has made advances over the past decade, delivering mixed results in furthering regional connectivity and reducing th

New Delhi’s record on this score is more mixed than some of the headlines seem to suggest.

In the past few years, Twitter has served as a versatile form of political public square for domestic and world affairs. The use of Twitter, largely propelled by the prominence of social media in the current environment for the discharge of diplomatic functions, has become an integral part of contemporary international relations. Indeed, Twitter has created its own form of diplomacy by incorporating itself to augment traditional diplomatic functi