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This weekend at Goa Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign policy team will undertake a significant manoeuvre with SAARC grouping gasping for breath

Often referred to as among the most strategically located island chains in the world, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are critical for India’s strategic interests. The islands comprise the sole archipelago in the Bay and they straddle important sea channels. As the long-standing protectionist regime in the islands morphs into a more flexible form of governance that will balance development with conservation, the stage appears set for India to c

The violent uprising of the people of Andijan in Uzbekistan on May 13,2005, seems to have been crushed for the time being by the Uzbek authorities with heavy force, resulting in the death of at least 20 civilians. The anti-Government elements, which organised the uprising, claim to have captured 30 Uzbek soldiers and to be keeping them in their custody.

The Libyan case is vastly different from that of Syria. The maverick Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had few friends in the Arab League. Unlike Libya, Syria is a critical element of the regional balance of power in the Middle East.

Saeed Naqvi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, traveled to Bahrain, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Baghdad, Najaf, Amman, Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah after the Arab Spring broke out. Earlier, he visited Tunisia, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Western Sahara and Libya. In this paper, he shares his first-hand experiences and discussions with leaders and diplomats, many of whom have requested anonymity. This paper follows

To understand the strategic significance of the second summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, it is necessary to look beyond the very important and tangible outcomes that the two leaders have unveiled.

The amendment of Article 370 in August 2019, which effectively nullified the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, was a watershed moment in the history of the region that went largely uncontested by the international community. Besides China and Pakistan, most countries were unwilling to openly criticise India’s actions in Kashmir. The limited international response to India’s actions largely focused on the humanitarian situation in t

As the region is reshaped by U.S. retreat and Chinese ambition, India must chart its own path

Ties between India and Japan are historical and enduring. In the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), the leaders of the two countries have married their respective countries’ “Act East” Policy and “Free and Open Indo Pacific” aspirations. The AAGC is envisioned to provide a renewed opportunity for partnership where both regions can complement each other’s development and growth.  The AAGC will bring out the economic gains for Afr

This paper analyses the domestic compulsions in Australia, India, Japan and the US that are influencing their positions on the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). The paper notes that as the four countries are becoming increasingly aware of the risks posed by China’s rise over the last few years, they have sought to converge to the Quad. For Australia, the concerns are over trade dependency on China, and China’s sharp power projection and

With its strong response across spheres, India has shown that it has options and a willingness to exercise them

Along Pakistan’s western frontier, the Pashtuns in the north and the Baloch in the south have historically been crucial elements of the country’s ethnic tapestry. Their place in Pakistani society today is the result of their geography, British colonial legacy, and their relationship with the state. For many years now, the Pashtuns have borne the brunt of the Afghan jihad and military campaigns against their tribes while the Baloch hav

Whatever be the demands of the Baloch nationalists, the situation now is that of a growing humanitarian crisis that the rest of the world chooses to ignore. Continued indifference will not help the problem go away but will only exacerbate it further and make it more intractable.

Kunduz has a large ethnic mix of Pashtun, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and others - all of whom wish to hold the province. The recent move to capture Kunduz by the Taliban is significant in many ways. It is the first major engagement by the Taliban after Mullah Akhtar Mansour succeeded Mullah Omar.

Though it will be difficult for the Central Government and the States to agree upon certain foreign policy issues, they should work together on issues of national importance-such as terrorism and foreign policy-in order to enact policies that benefit its citizens.

The task of developing a regional framework for the governance of a shared natural resource is fraught with challenges. It requires political will and stability, consistent funding, and clear goals and indicators. In the Bay of Bengal, institutionalisation efforts are so far defined in the BIMSTEC–a high-level governmental organisation working on broad economic objectives for the region. This brief speculates on a new framework that is quasi-go

From the available facts of the jihadi terrorist carnage at the North Ossetian town of Beslan in Russia on September 3, 2004, the following reconstruction is possible:

The West has finally woken up to something that strategic analysts in India have been saying for decades: Saudi Arabia funded the Pakistani nuclear programme. In this connection, we have three questions to analyse; First, how valid is this information? Second, how is it then that Saudi Arabia gets away with so much? Third, why is Nato and Israeli intelligence taken seriously but not the Indians?

In January 2000, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi initiated a 'Bhagidari Programme' as an attempt to resolve the various problems being faced by the city's residents. Smt. Sheila Dikshit, the Honorable Chief Minister of Delhi, visited the Observer Research Foundation campus on April 10, 2008 to make a presentation on the programme. The discussion was facilitated by Ambassador M. Rasgotra. This discourse is an abridged documen

The PLA has still to cover some gaps before it gains the confidence and warfare proficiency in any planned invasion.

The Seychelles’ geographical advantages have given it economic gains from its main Blue Economy (BE) sectors—fisheries and tourism. However, overexploitation and unsustainable management practices have placed undue pressure on these resources. In 2018, the country conceived a sustainable ocean-based development pathway—the Seychelles’ Blue Economy Strategic Framework and Roadmap. Various socio-economic and environmental challenges threate

The fact that more Chinese soldiers are now crossing over into the Indian side can be the result of growing Chinese aggressiveness on territorial issues

The problem with imposing sanctions on a country which has the world's third largest proven reserves of oil and second largest conventional natural gas reserves is that the implications are felt globally. The price of oil is highly correlated throughout the world due to market arbitrage.

Right-wing populism has been the most influential political movement in Europe for the last few years.  Far from being a newcomer on the political stage, it has managed to shape political discourses as never before since the end of World War II. This paper identifies what right-wing populism is and why right-wing populist parties have again become relevant in almost every European country.  It argues that it is an expression of, and a reaction

There is no universally accepted international cyber treaty. However, the Council of Europe?s Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which has been in force for a decade and has been ratified by 44 countries, is the closest.

With growing water scarcity across many parts of the world, competition over access to this vital resource has been known to spark conflict. Following the September 2016 Uri attack in India, the government made plans to retaliate against its neighbour by exercising its right to use water of the western rivers—allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty—by building dams, canals and reservoirs. This paper aims to address the legal, econ

India’s social structure, with enduring gender inequalities rooted in patriarchal norms, plays a significant role in perpetuating gender-based violence (GBV). Women in India have been victims of infanticide, selective abortions, sex trafficking, stalking, dowry demands, child marriages, acid attacks, and honour killings. This brief explores the social dimension of GBV in India and assesses how gaps in legislation help to perpetuate them. It als

Critical minerals have emerged as a vital resource for a state’s national security and strategic calculations. Consequently, like-minded states have attempted to establish alliances for mineral security to mitigate their vulnerability arising from overreliance on a single country, notably China. In the Indo-Pacific, the Quad has taken the initiative to work together on critical minerals. The Quad’s strategy aims to combine available resources

Over the past year, the European Union (EU) increased its efforts to develop a more holistic approach to its engagement with the Indo-Pacific. Specifically, the EU has signalled a more concrete intention to integrate defence and security considerations into the policymaking process, with the publication of a regional strategy of engagement in September 2021. This brief aims to tie existing threads of EU diplomatic, developmental, and security pra

Many countries across the world are harnessing disruptive technology to maintain technological superiority over their adversaries. Research and development (R&D) organisations are key to this task. In the defence sector, focused R&D drives critical innovations and product development. India continues to lag in defence technology and remains dependent on imports. A crucial impediment is long product development cycles. Under the cu

While the need is clear, realizing such cooperation will mean addressing several key challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the globe since the first outbreak in 2019, causing massive losses in lives and livelihoods. This brief examines the nature of the threat, the blind-spots in global health security that were revealed by the pandemic, and why a values-based geopolitical order is critical for the world’s future. It makes a case for the global community to treat health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as global

On June 22, 2004, over 200 well-armed persons simultaneously raided three towns in the Ingushetia Republic of Russia, adjoining Chechnya, and attacked police stations, government buildings and checkpoints with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The Russian and the local security forces were totally taken by surprise. Ninety-five persons were killed, the majority of them members of the security forces and other Government officials,

India’s decision to abolish cantonments after carving out the military areas, announced in April 2023, has been met with scepticism and support. Cantonments, primarily created during the British rule to station and house the military, evolved to include civilians as residents and staff to provide support and logistic services. Over time, cantonment boards, with some civilian members, were created to manage the civil areas, but the rights of civ

This paper dissects the persistent credit crunch that has provoked recent debates on the autonomy of India’s central bank. It tracks the trajectory of the liquidity squeeze, beginning with the wariness of public sector banks to provide credit to high-risk sectors as bad loans mounted. Yet these banks were continuing to provide loans to the NBFCs (non-banking financial companies), which were in turn extending loans to the high-risk sectors (such

There is an urgent need for the appointment of a new commission, on the footsteps of the Sarkaria Commission and the Justice E Venkataramaiah Commission, to review Centre-State relations, and State-to-State relations.

Recent geopolitical disruptions and India’s geoeconomic and geopolitical ambitions necessitate the building of new, more reliable multimodal trade corridors. This report examines the strategic importance for New Delhi of the ten-year agreement on Chabahar Port in Iran, and how it aligns with India’s ‘Connect Central Asia Policy’ and historical ties with the region. The Chabahar Port, along with the International North-South Trade Corridor

Located at the centre of the Indian Ocean, the Chagos Archipelago is a group of 55 tiny islands that, since 1965, has been administered by the United Kingdom as a British Indian Ocean Territory. Its biggest island, Diego Garcia, is host to a highly important US military air base. Sovereignty over the archipelago has recently emerged as an issue of contestation between Mauritius and the UK, and the presence of American military troops has only ser

India needs to create a balance between the pursuit of its narrow national interest and its responsibility as a rising power

Mohamed Muizzu was sworn in as the seventh president of the Maldives in November 2023 after intense electoral competition with seven other candidates and a highly competitive second round. However, his administration’s five-year term will not be without challenges. Muizzu’s rise to power comes at a time when the archipelago is experiencing significant domestic and strategic challenges. As the Maldives gears up for parliamentary elections in l

Russia’s policy towards South Asia has been the subject of much speculation lately. With closer cooperation between Russia and China and the former’s warming up to Pakistan, it is becoming increasingly evident that Russia is moving away from its India-centric approach in the region. This brief studies the changes, and continuity, in Moscow’s foreign policy towards South Asia as it transitioned from the Soviet Union into the Russian Federati

This study discusses three major mega free trade agreements (the TPP, TTIP and the RCEP) and attempts to develop a strategy for India to navigate the repercussions engendered by these groupings and thereby safeguard India?s trade and sustain its economic growth.

If the Obama Administration avoids the temptation of returning to business as usual with Rawalpindi, it has an opportunity to get both Afghanistan and Pakistan right.

The first incumbent will also need to create confidence in all three services that their legitimate and vital interests will not be compromised.

India needs to take a broad approach to its foreign policy. One of the biggest mistakes Delhi could make would be to see the Indo-Vietnam relationship as simply a means for countering China.