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India’s government recently announced a safeguard duty (SGD) on solar cells and modules from China (and Malaysia) starting with 25% in the first year. This decision does not only jeopardise the own renewable energy targets but also harm the own economy. Why not let pay China for India's energy transition?

Amidst geopolitical shifts and multipolarity, New Delhi’s ties with Berlin could be vital in shaping a new global order

India’s maiden solar mission undertook a journey of around 1.5 million km from Earth, taking 127 days to reach its final destination.

Prospects for agriculture in Africa took a huge boost as more than 30 billion USD in investments to expedite the transformation was extended.

Some of the best performing countries of Africa -- Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana -- have GDP growth rates comparable with the fastest developing countries of the world. Their GDPs are the least volatile in Africa. Rwanda was declared the best reformer by the World Bank for encouraging business in the country.

The United States has, in its history, vacillated between global dominance and isolation. A phase of inwardness may be in the cards.

The US needs to have a more practical approach combating the Islamic State, and it needs to collaborate with partner countries to end Islamic radicalism, according to a scholar from the Center for American Progress.

Describing the US's 'Pivot to Asia' as "rhetoric without reassurance", Chatham House scholar on US foreign policy says it is a great strategy, but it has been badly implemented.

Al Quds al Arabi is a respected daily and the opinion of its editor, Abdul Bari Atwan, carries weight. For this reason, his op-ed on September 7 on "Talabani and Arabness of Iraq" is to be taken note of. The point of departure is Iraq's isolation in the Arab world and Mr. Atwan,

This brief assesses the growth of Armenia’s defence deep-tech landscape, and the geopolitical ramifications of its development for India, in particular. Tracing its historical development and current status in light of the current strategic volatility in the South Caucasus, the brief highlights the scope for closer cooperation between Yerevan and New Delhi in the deep-tech domain, shaped by such factors as issue-based convergences, Armenia’s

The annual gatherings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - at the ministerial level in July and summit level in November at the East Asia Summit - have become good indicators of Asia's volatile geopolitical temperature.

The emerging faultlines in the Indo-Pacific are clear: An illiberal China intent on shaping a unipolar Asia, pitted against a ‘concert of democracies’ who seek a multipolar and rules-based alternative.

India’s outreach to the Taliban isolates Pakistan further

Since 2010, Pakistan has already violated the ceasefire more than 222 times. In 2012 alone, there were 117 instances, mostly concentrated in the Uri and Krishna Ghati areas.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has served as a laboratory test to assess the effectiveness of Cyber Warfare (CW) capabilities. It would be misleading, however, to extrapolate sweeping conclusions from this conflict about the relative ineffectiveness of CW. Rather, diligence should be exercised by Indian strategic and military planners in assessing the CW capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) and enhancing

In the last few years, the European Union has been developing alternative ways of digital governance. This 'European way' could represent a shared model for new players worldwide, or else, herald the beginning of the fragmentation of the World Wide Web. These developmentsfrom rulings of the European Court of Justice on 'the right to be forgotten' and on safe harbour, to record-breaking sanctions for violations of competition law, to standard�

Like Trump’s campaign style, Bolsonaro has launched an effective social media campaign to reach out to ordinary Brazilians.

BRICS is an evolving process, and any exaggerated notion of it becoming a power bloc will be out of place. It might work towards "a multi-polar (or poly-centric) world", which a former Brazilian President had described as an important goal of BRICS, but in no sense it is a ganging-up against the US or the West.

Ambitious expansion meets internal divisions as the bloc strives to redefine global power dynamics.

As global powers fracture into rival spheres of influence, India’s strategic restraint, non-alignment, and economic resilience position it as a stabilizing force in a multipolar world.

Both during times of normalcy and crises, governments depend on increasingly digitised identity systems. Such systems, however, have been considered controversial since the use of IBM machines to facilitate the Holocaust. Since then, more contemporary identity systems have tried to ensure that they do not violate citizens’ essential rights. This requires multi-stakeholder coordination, a network paradigm, a focus on open standards rather than s

In July 2024, United States (US) President Joe Biden signed into law a bill espousing the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination. The spirit of this law, ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act’, stands in contrast to historical US recognition of Tibet as a part of China. This brief examines the evolution of US policy towards Tibet, beginning in the 1950s when its primary concern was the alleged human rights violations

Several challenges and threats may hinder achieving two percent growth for the world economy. For instance, the plans of IMF and Central Bank to raise the interest rate are likely to result in wiping out efforts to achieve the target. Also the investment is witnessing lower volatility.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. International trade has been severely impacted due to, among others, budgetary shortfalls, reduced access to medical equipment, and an overall decline in economic activity. Even before the pandemic hit, international trade was held hostage by trade wars in a deeply polarised world; COVID-19 further exposed the faultlines of the globa

2004 is a significant year for Europe. In May of this year, the European Union (EU) will induct ten new members, eight of which were part of the former Communist regime of the Soviet Union. While four of these East European states (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) are struggling with mounting budget deficits and contemplating awkward spending cuts, France and Germany (the dominant European powers) are immersed in a deep economic

US’ expected policy shift favouring Moscow aligns with its renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific.

Accusing the US and the EU of practising double-standards, Russian Consul General in Chennai, Dr Nikolay A Listopadov, has said the interests of the EU and the US would be accepted as long as they did not come in the way of Russia's.

Capacity building is a central feature of India’s outreach to Africa. Over the last seven decades, the Indian government has provided numerous scholarships to African students through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation scheme. India has also established several technical institutes throughout the continent. However, assessments of India’s capacity-building initiatives remain limited. Th

This has been a longstanding policy of China, but more recently, Beijing has been perturbed by New Delhi’s proactive push in China’s periphery along the wider Indo-Pacific. Beijing is attempting to portray itself as the new leader in the emerging multipolar world

China was a late entrant in Arctic engagement, with its involvement beginning only in 1991. Since then, its engagement has expanded both in depth and breadth. Even though it signed the Svalbard Treaty in 1925 at France’s invitation, China’s polar activities initially focused only on the Antarctic. This report explores China’s journey and collates its activities in the Arctic.

Nations act solely in supreme national interest. China’s response to the Pahalgam terror strike is in steady contrast with its own stand on many issues

Arguably the most significant global phenomenon of the past four decades has been the economic and strategic rise of China. Today analysts are confronting questions of whether China will replace the United States as the world’s biggest power, if it will do so peacefully or through confrontation and conflict, how it will subvert the existing system of global rules and institutions, and whether a new form of bipolarity would emerge to accommodate

Beijing’s Southeast Asia outreach may complicate the U.S.’s efforts to build a coalition to isolate or deter China economically.

China’s actions in Ladakh since 2020 are in violation of common understandings and have brought the focus of bilateral relationship back to the issue of the border. This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of China’s behaviour along the India-China border by exploring a fresh perspective that explains the instability along the border as a function of China’s two-front conundrum. It makes a historical account of past events to arg

Confidence-building measures (CBMs) were first developed in the context of Western international relations as a means of ensuring norm diffusion between adversarial states. While South Asian states have also turned to CBMs to minimise hostilities, the literature on their impact has been limited. This brief fills the gap by examining the influence of CBMs between India and Pakistan, and India and China, on norm diffusion in the region. The brief c

This paper trains the spotlight on India’s relations with Africa by studying the country’s relations with two east African countries – Tanzania and Kenya, and two south African countries – Mozambique and South Africa. The paper opens with a description of the trade, investment, and development cooperation links between India and these countries. An assessment follows of three key areas in these bilateral relationships: energy, food securi

The extant scholarship on India’s nuclear doctrine, while problematising the credibility deficit in the strategy of massive retaliation, fails to provide a policy alternative. This study examines the alternative of flexible response available for India and makes an assessment of whether it provides a solution to this problem in India’s nuclear doctrine. Even when flexible response is often cited in India’s strategic circles as a likely alte

Amidst the current climate of intense polarisation in the US, the bipartisan consensus on India has largely remained as a rare point of convergence between Republicans and Democrats. This paper discusses the seminal role of the US Congress in the cultivation of US–India ties, and how crucial legislations—led by the India caucuses in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate—have paved the way for greater strategic cooperation betwee

Digital adoption, hastened globally by the COVID-19 epidemic, brought along with it both benefits and threats, including concerns of safety and security of the cyberspace. Current geopolitical dynamics, ongoing strategic and economic disputes, as well as attempts by authoritarian regimes to preserve power have allowed companies with malicious intent—known as ‘cyber mercenaries’—to develop and deploy offensive cyber capabilities. The tools

The increasing dependence on the internet across the spectrum is pushing some states to adopt measures to exert their sovereignty over cyberspace. Certain global events have also acted as a catalyst for states to pursue cyber sovereignty. The involvement of multiple stakeholders and the borderless character of the virtual world have made sovereignty a complex affair in this domain. This brief seeks to illuminate the concept of ‘cyber so

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil¿s none-too-recent hint that the Centre was considering the setting up of a new commission to review Centre-State relations is a welcome move. While it may be yet another effort at decentralization of administrative power between the Centre and the States, care should be taken in formulating the terms of reference and in the choice of the commission¿s members that the process percolates down to the panchayat-lev

The Modi government's policy of engagement, rather than isolation of sanctioned countries, is very much in line with its predecessor, United Progressive Alliance, led by Manmohan Singh. However, like Singh, Modi too has refrained from speaking on the issue of sanctions.

As an emerging power in the current multipolar global order, India can use the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to protect, promote, and project its geostrategic and geoeconomic interests. The SCO is also a platform for India to reaffirm its commitment to revive and deepen its centuries-old civilisational, spiritual, and cultural ties with other member countries. This paper explores India's priorities at the SCO, chiefly connectivity, coun

As dependable allies, the India-France partnership is a force for global good in a volatile world engulfed in multiple crises

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, released the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (DPDP Rules) in early January this year and invited feedback by 5 March 2025. On 18 February 2025, MeitY organised a consultative session on the draft DPDP Rules; the event, held in New Delhi, was attended by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Based on the consultative session and discussions wi

The recent developments in East China Sea carry a high risk of confrontation and miscalculation in the already volatile region. Beijing's unilateral move to extend its authority and control in the region runs against its policy to change its image amongst its neighbours.

This paper theorises international relations using the perspective of an Indian classic, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, and employs such interpretation to conceptualise BRICS (or the association of emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.) As a litmus test for the analytical viability of the Kautilyan perspective developed here, the paper examines what might be called “the BRICS paradox”: the mismatch between theoretical