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

India’s ties with Beijing have frayed even as relations with Moscow lose warmth because of their actions

A research study by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has found that there is a clear danger to India from CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiological Materials) terrorism due to the known intentions of terrorist groups active within India's borders.

Riyadh, Jerusalem, Washington, in that order of anxiety, must be in a huddle on the change in Tunisia and chill winds blowing across Egypt, Yemen and Jordan. The State Department has issued a warning that must send shock waves throughout the Arabian peninsula "status quo in the Middle East and North Africa is not sustainable".

Technological advancement in artificial intelligence has created a situation where the deployment of Lethal Autonomous Weapons has become practically, if not legally, possible within a few years. As the international community struggles to arrive at a definition of ‘autonomous weapons’, the need to regulate their use has become paramount. Apart from the legal and ethical considerations in the use of autonomous weapons, there are also con

The last few decades have witnessed a rise in the use and accumulation of data, often called ‘the oil of the 21st century’. Meanwhile, existing laws and regulations are inadequate in dealing with these changing data consumption patterns; this is true for India. Wrongdoings by tech companies can often go unpunished, including predatory pricing, abuse of dominance, and exclusionary conduct. This brief discusses India’s antitrust laws and regu

The rise of modern technologies may drastically alter the employment landscape in India, potentially displacing large portions of the workforce. India requires an inclusive future of work that retains those currently in work while also creating sufficient new opportunities for the growing labour force. This paper reviews extant literature on technological change, automation, and their impact on the future of work in India and, by extension, educa

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

Russia’s growing footprints in Africa provide West African junta-led countries with an opportunity to recalibrate their foreign policy away from traditional western alliances as well as China. But in what ways does Moscow’s re-emergence in the region offer strategic options to these countries?

It is sad that caught unawares, the nation is finding new ways to explain away the current puzzle that Jammu and Kashmir once again has become. Issues such as 'trust deficit' and 'governance deficit',

India has almost blinked to the King of Nepal on the question of arms supply. These supplies were put on hold on February 1, 2005, following King Gyanendra¿s coup against the democratic system and leadership.

The depth of the Congress's problems is evident from the party's inability to come to grips with the problem of party leadership. For structural reasons -- primarily the fact that it is a proprietorial entity -- this is the most critical problem for the party. This was evident from the reactions to P. Chidambaram's remark that a "non-Gandhi" could "someday" become president of the party.

The discussion on "Forthcoming Presidential Election" in India saw crucial issues impacting the election of the next Indian President being analysed and debated

This forward-looking brief examines India’s economic reforms over the past decade and argues that in his third term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would need to shift gears. Working to his advantage is the expectation of political and policy continuity. This must now be tempered by the slightly weaker political mandate. In the past 10 years, Modi moved the reforms needle with his dexterous stance; he now needs to work with a new idea—that of c

It is President Barak Obama's political requirement to have a calm Middle East so that he can keep a steady gaze on Afghanistan, the country on which the NATO Summit in Chicago must focus in May in ways that it is useful for his re election in November.

Japan wants to assist India to improve the investment climate to attract more FDI so that New Delhi can be linked more closely with Japan–ASEAN-based supply chains.

Dealing with Covid-19 is inflaming already fierce tensions between central governments and states globally.

Undernourished people with weak immune systems and those with co-morbidities are strongly linked to adverse COVID-19 outcomes.

Changes need to be made at the grassroot level so that water available is optimised for usage

At a workshop on responsible corporate governance at Observer Research Foundation, it was noted that corporate governance and business responsibility are no longer add-ons to markets; they are integral to them.

New Delhi would be well advised to look at the Pakistan situation with an open mind or risk being left out of the flow.

Social media platforms facilitate the sharing of information and enhance connectivity and civic engagement. At the same time, however, they are vulnerable to abuse by malicious actors who use the channels to spread misinformation and hateful and divisive content. Regulatory reforms must seek to align the utility of social media platforms with the welfare of citizens, while safeguarding the right to free speech. This paper explores the regulatory

It was New Delhi which first pointed out the drawbacks of the Chinese model.

A number of countries, including India, have either announced or are already implementing sustainable finance taxonomies that help mobilise capital for sustainable development and climate action. This brief examines the challenges to implementing sustainable finance taxonomies, including lack of harmonisation and standardisation, unavailability of data, lack of capacity, and financial burdens on companies applying these taxonomies. The brief prop

Obama's warning to Putin that there would be costs for the invasion of Crimea was not only empty, but the real cost in all this was to American credibility, once again. One can, therefore, expect both the US and Russia to assert their rights regardless of international law.

The challenge for agriculture is to meet rising demand for food while dealing with climate change and natural resource constraints. This paper takes the case of cereal production in the lower Indo-Gangetic plains in the state of West Bengal, India, and examines the implications of various crop-shifting scenarios on consumptive water demand and nutrient production. The analysis finds that by replacing summer crop (Boro rice) in each district with

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

The nation-state will remain the fundamental unit of reckoning in the international system, but it will have to reckon, almost Brownian-motion-like, with other units and stakeholders in a fluid medium where disorder may have both permanence and legitimacy.

One of the questions that neither the Bush administration nor the Musharraf government has so far investigated is the involvement of Pakistan's military in the proliferation activities of nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Although it would not be entirely false to suggest that Maoists have managed to capture the imagination of a large section of Nepalese society because of the widespread poverty and continued neglect by successive monarchs and political leadership, there are quite a few other, equally valid, reasons why Maoists have had a run of the Nepalese countryside.

To arrest the spread of brutal Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the US must go in with a limited military mission, thus aiding the process of bringing stability in Iraq and the region at large. However, it should not look at staying in Iraq for a long haul.