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India's challenges in negotiating a new framework for internet governance do not lend themselves to the old clichés of Indian diplomacy. Instead, India must strive to find the appropriate balance between the multiple antinomies that define the debate.

North Korea is among the states that stand out for their often defiant behaviour, divergent from typical diplomatic niceties and non-compliant with widely accepted international liberal norms and rules. This ‘uniqueness’ is seen, for instance, in the country’s nuclear weapons development programme, which has been the object of global attention since the early 1990s. North Korea has now extended this behaviour to the cyber domain, marked by

India may be the world’s second largest producer of food, but it has its second largest undernourished population. Further, more than half of women in India suffer from anaemia, which is one of the reasons for the high rate of low-birth weight babies. An unbalanced diet and lack of food is directly linked to high rates of stunting, excessive weight, and death in children under five years of age. The Government of India has implemented programme

In short, the principle of subsidiarity demands that India’s national government take some cues from global trends and cede more powers to the city government in capital territory. The current bill by the Centre not only betrays the concept of “cooperative federalism” often espoused by the Union government, but will further complicate governance in India’s fastest growing mega-city.

The multiple ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns imposed by countries as a response, are being felt in sectors ranging from agriculture to healthcare. The global community must now hurdle massive obstacles to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To correctly assess the impact of the pandemic on global sustainability-driven concerns, it is important to understand not only the inter-linkages between the SDGs,

Apart from his participation in the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in China's Qingdao, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun, possibly to restart the China-India military hotline.

Since being initiated by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally in 2016, Tokyo’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision has become the preferred framework for diplomatic engagement among like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific. This paper undertakes an assessment of FOIP. The motivation is threefold: first, it creates an understanding of Tokyo’s vision of maintaining a stable global order; second, because FOIP has become inclusive—it

सर्वेक्षण के साथ अंतरराष्ट्रीय मामलों में सजग भारतीयों की रुचि यह दर्शाती है कि भारत के समक्ष चुनौतियों को लेकर उनमें और खासकर युवाओं में गहरी समझ है. आने वाले समय में उनके

The second meeting of the ORF-PCIP Task Force on India-US Relations was held at Los Angeles on September 13-14, 2004. The first such joint Task Force between an American and an Indian think tank, it is a Track II initiative between Observer Research Foundation, India?s first multi-disciplinary think tank and the Pacific Council, a leadership forum based at Los Angeles and rooted in the American West.

In the aftermath of Uri terror attack, India has been putting pressure on Pakistan by using multiple levers of power

Islamabad will deploy all political and diplomatic tools to lobby in the West. But it senses failure

As the world today looks up to India as a net security provider, Delhi needs to recast its peacekeeping strategy by modernising its decision-making structures, expanding domestic defence capabilities, and strengthening its military diplomacy.

While bus and cricket diplomacy is being played out with unbridled passion across borders, a dispassionate and more realistic discourse on human rights violations in Kashmir should form part of the new-found bon homie between India and Pakistan. There is a reason why such an assessment is important.

PM Abe has activated Japan's Central Asian diplomacy like no other leader did before. However, he is realistic enough to understand the enormous Chinese influence in the region. Rather than seeking to supplant that influence, Abe only wants to project Japan as an important and useful partner in the Central Asian scene.

India's potential engagement with Taliban officials marks a significant policy shift amid geopolitical realities, raising concerns for national security.

The Bay of Bengal has emerged as a key arena for Sino-Indian competition due to its proximity to vital sea lanes, rich resource potential, and strategic geography. This paper analyses how China and India employ port development initiatives in the Bay littorals—Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar—to secure their economic interests, extend geopolitical influence, and mitigate strategic vulnerabilities. Through case studies, the paper highlights

New Delhi’s diplomacy outreach must take charge of the story as the side that frames the question often controls the answer  

India has embraced an assertive strategy of escalation dominance to impose steep costs on future Pakistan-backed terrorism.

This brief explores the work of the Bengali diplomat and academic Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya, whose book, The Making of Indian Foreign Policy (1970) is considered a classic in Indian scholarship in International Relations. It analyses Bandyopadhyaya’s distinctive contribution to IR theory, especially his attempt to craft a “hybrid” approach derived from Gandhi and Mao, on the one hand, and behavouralist systems theories, on the other. It

The UK withdrawing its candidate to the ICJ is a tribute to smart and aggressive diplomacy by India.

India is driving a transition to e-mobility in a bid to meet its commitments to the Paris climate agreement. Meeting the e-mobility targets will have multiple benefits, including cleaner air, improved health, and a reduced oil import bill. India’s cities will play a key role in achieving the e-mobility transition through planning and the implementation of local policies, but they must first overcome certain challenges. Assistance from the centr

Digital financial services have benefits but pose privacy risks that harm consumers, merchants, markets, and nations alike. Some payments systems in India suffer from vulnerabilities because they were not prospectively designed on the basis of the ‘privacy by design’ principle. At the back-end, the centralised storage of data is risky. At the front-end, faulty capture devices enable data misuse. Across the middle mile, data is transmitted wit

Long before Snowden, it was suggested that the best way forward was to abandon 'the Internet' and embrace multiple internets, essentially privatising networks. The splintering of the Internet is one possible consequence of viewing Internet rights through the prism of private property.

The Observer Research Foundation hosted an exciting, in-depth interaction with Nepalese Maoist leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai on November 18, 2006. Addressing their first international audience together from the same platform, the Maoist leaders put before the distinguished gathering, which included political leaders, former diplomats and members of the academia and media, their vision about a new Nepal which they would like to bui

As India assumes the G20 presidency, it has the opportunity to further the cause of mutually beneficial, rules-based international trade at a time when the world is facing a series of multiple and overlapping political and economic crises. This paper opens by describing a confluence of factors that together open a window of opportunity for India’s presidency to advance pragmatic engagement on trade, specifically in shoring up the multilateral t

The Russian President’s actions this week may yield tactical gains but hardly pass the test for strategic victory

On the diplomatic front, India has been careful to nurture its ties with Doha, even as our relations with the UAE and Saudi Arabia showed a dramatic upswing.

There are clear differences between India and the rest of the Quad, but it is also evident they are willing to work together to resolve those differences.

The Quad’s growing effort to shape international norms and rules in the Indo-Pacific is taking place in an environment fraught with multiple challenges. China’s assertive rise as well as internal differences within the group pose significant risks to the plurilateral platform’s mission of creating a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific. Focusing on the Quad’s cybersecurity cooperation, this brief examines the various internal and e

PM Modi's queue for a reality check to balance diplomacy, with domestic interests, for keeping the economic interests higher.

This year marks a decade since the announcement of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This brief analyses Chinese-language literature to understand the country’s current stance on Pakistan and the CPEC. Two trends emerge. First, China appears to be facing a dilemma over Pakistan. While the Chinese government wants the CPEC to be successful, China’s strategic community now shows little optimism on the initiative. Second, contrary to

The July 15 talks in Islamabad between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan ended badly for many reasons. India has been putting itself at a disadvantage diplomatically by showing too much eagerness to restart the dialogue with Pakistan.

After a decade, officials from India, Japan, Australia and the United States convened in Manila in November 2017 to renew their quadrilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. While the agenda of the quad is still unknown, this paper presents a political-military strategy for the grouping directed at shaping Chinese behaviour in the region. Viewing strategy through the ends-means-ways lens, the paper describes key objectives of dissuasion, deterre

The 2024 advisory opinion issued by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), recognising GHG emissions as marine pollution, marks a pivotal intersection in maritime and climate governance. The opinion, while non-binding, establishes legal obligations for states to mitigate climate-induced marine impacts, including acidification, warming, and sea-level rise. It emphasises due diligence, transboundary impact assessments, and adher

Central business districts (CBDs) dominate economic activity in large cities. In India’s capital, New Delhi, for example, Connaught Place is a CBD. Firms relocate to CBDs due to the ease of doing business in such areas owing to retail agglomeration, functional grouping, labour pooling, and the ability to attract talent. However, recent phenomenon such as an increase in remote working, the rise in real estate costs, and the expansion of city lim

The Indo-Pacific region is experiencing profound geo-strategic re-alignments. Post-war norms are being challenged by a rising China that is unconstrained by the established legal, economic and diplomatic order. These changes come at a time of growing uncertainty over US commitments to both its regional allies and a liberal international trade regime. In the absence of American leadership, the only formidable and practical alternative is the emerg

US President Donald Trump’s ham-handed handling of global diplomacy has once again brought the world back to early 1990s when the threat of American unipolarity drove countries like Russia, China and India towards collective action.

There is no doubt that International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans often come with a set of conditionalities that most countries find unfavourable to implement. With its ongoing economic crisis and complex multilateral debt negotiations between creditor nations, Sri Lanka is no exception.

Global growth is expected to experience an uptick this year due to renewed economic activity in the emerging and developing market economies. These economies have large investment requirements for infrastructure development and maintaining a sustainable level of economic growth—for which they are dependent on international credit markets. With the growing need of economies to borrow capital abroad, the role of credit rating agencies—most of t

Two broad principles outlined by Jawaharlal Nehru must guide Delhi's current approach to the Asian power rivalry. One is to seek good relations with both China and Japan; and other is Nehru's insistence that postwar Japan should not be isolated or punished because of its imperial past.

India's old formulaic discourse is no longer capable of dealing with the multiple tragedies and manifold transformations playing out in the Middle East. India will have to approach the Middle East on the basis of its own internal dynamics rather than preconceived ideas and preferences.

Smt. Sushma Swaraj was at her best in Parliament while she covered a wide terrain, from Pakistan, China West Asia to Indian diplomacy.

Myanmar and Bangladesh are active partners in India’s Act-east policy, projects envisaging connectivity between the Southeast with South Asia and countering insurgency in north-east

The Rules-Based Order (RBO) underpins the global maritime trading and security system. A subject of growing discussion and debate in strategic studies circles, it is seen by many as a prerequisite for seaborne trade and commerce, and a crucial factor in formulating national security policy. While many Asian powers have a shared understanding of the principles of maritime conduct, regional states have tended to situate the RBO within the framework