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If Macron loses control of the National Assembly in June, he may be forced into an uneasy co-habitation that will limit his policy options. He knows that.

Urban infrastructure projects using brownfield or greenfield development can cause damage to natural habitats. To achieve the Agenda 2030 goal of “leaving no one behind” while mitigating the destruction of habitats, an integrated approach towards infrastructure development must be adopted. This paper outlines the current paradigms of sustainable infrastructure provision, highlighting how and why sustainability outcomes are overlooked at diffe

What is the trajectory of Indo-Russian relations in the evolving world order?

The recent US-Taliban moves offer a ray of hope for the Obama administration to achieve a much needed breakthrough before the President begins his re-election campaign.

At the top, communication between the senior leadership on both sides is very good. But, once you get past that, the real engine of any bilateral relationship -- the mid-levels of the bureaucracies -- do not communicate consistently well yet. A large part of this lack of communication is a paucity of 'strategic messaging' from the US in India.

With only a week left for the scheduled second-round polling in the presidential elections on Saturday, 28 September, it may be time the stake-holders in Maldives arrived at an interim consensus, keeping the healthy and constructive future of the infant democracy at heart.

A legislative deadlock involving the Executive and Parliament on the one hand, and the Executive and the Judiciary on the other, both leading to a serious and a series of constitutional crisis kept Maldivian politics and politicians on their toes for most of 2010.

The People's Majlis, or Parliament's confirmation of the nomination of Vice-President Mohammed Waheed Deen have taken the punch out of the MDP's argument against the need for a constitutional amendment for facilitating early elections.

Through a deft post facto damage-control, the Government of President Abdulla Yameen seems to have diffused and warded off - at least for the time being - what threatened to be a major diplomatic incident for Maldives, and involving the US and Russia,

Having kicked off the constitutional deadlock in Maldives, by getting the whole Cabinet resigned, President Nasheed needs to find a wayout of the imbroglio. A snap poll, either for the President or Parliament, or both, are the possibilities.

The Maldivian Democratic Party needs to give the nation and Parliament time to rework the institutional framework as they exist, though not time enough for imbibing in them a new sense of purpose and direction expected of them in a democratic scheme.

Notwithstanding the recent media leaks on a 'US military base' in Maldives, a decision on whatever that facility be, may have to wait until after the parliamentary polls of May 2014, not stopping with the presidential elections due in September this year.

After the cancellation or non-conduct of the court-ordered first-round re-poll on 19 October in Maldives, outgoing President Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik and the Supreme Court seem to have expanded the scope and meaning of 'inclusive poll' in the even more contemporary context.

After seemingly winning the earlier rounds in the ongoing political tug-of-war since the New Year commenced, Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen seems to have got his political detractors on the wrong foot again,

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj undertook a two-day weekend visit to Maldives, setting the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow suit, but possibly based on the quick-changing domestic developments in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Close to two dozen Maldivian nationals are believed to have died in Syria, fighting for the Islamic State.

Both sides need to carefully manage this issue to avoid damaging the wider relationship.

The fact that the People's Republic of China (PRC) has so far avoided giving any direct official comment on the Manmohan Singh-Bush Joint Statement, needs to be weighed carefully for its significance.

It is important that manufacturing growth picks up otherwise India's demographic dividend in terms of having a youthful population could become a demographic liability. Around half of India's population is under 25 years old. Unless they have jobs or job prospects, they will become dissatisfied and disgruntled.

As the power balances of the 21st century shift, Indo-US defence partnership will not be solely about defence commerce. Instead this vital partnership flows from geopolitical interests. To sustain the momentum, both countries should undertake proactive measures to resolve the complex policy challenges.

In the last decade, South Korea's defence exports have become one of the successful case studies of the country’s export basket. However, given the changing nature of modern warfare, a shift focusing on the adoption of New Generation Technologies (NGT), such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and semiconductors, is taking place within the Korean defence industry. Given the strategic importance of these systems, the Korean government has

The US has provided financial and military support to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia took control of Crimea, and more firmly since February 2022, when the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war began. Indeed, US military, political, and strategic support to Ukraine is crucial to Kyiv as the conflict continues. For the Biden administration, aid to Ukraine is a vital principle on which his party politics hinges; it is a critical pathway to rebuild transatlant

How can access, equity, equality, and technology shape maternal health in India and South Africa?

With Maldives veering towards China, Mauritius is emerging as a decisive factor in ensuring India’s dominance in the Indian Ocean Region

The growing US-India defence relationship would have been unthinkable in the past days of sanctions. Whether communication between the two countries' systems can be improved or not will be a key determinant in how far, and fast, it can go.

Participants at a seminar on "Media regulation: Is Status Quo the Option?" said India cannot afford to be an exception among democracies, with no regulation of cross-holdings in the media. Editorial independence is indispensable if the right to freedom of expression is to be effectively exercised.

Media Regulation: Is Status Quo the Answer? This was the topic of an interesting panel discussion organised by Observer Research Foundation and The Hammurabi & Solomon at the India International Centre on August 6.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev added some flair to the normally staid Indo-Russian diplomatic engagements by visiting the Taj Mahal and "rekindling Russia's Bollywood love affair" with a trip to a film studio in Mumbai.

There is no doubt that the roots of today's problems lie in the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. But the blame for what is happening today must be shared equally between the Americans and the Iraqis, primarily the Shia leadership of al Maliki.

On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai undid in less than 60 hours what governments of two sovereign nations had been struggling for over four years to achieve-peace and stability in the region. These terrorists were from Pakistan, recruited, trained and armed by Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), a terrorist group with visible presence across the country.

The military-mullah alliance is fundamental to the pervasive role of the army in Pakistan’s polity. This trend has led to many Islamist and terrorist organisations seeking the status of political parties, a move dubbed as ‘mainstreaming of terrorists.’

The Himalayan nation is far from resolving its governance woes more than five years after the democratisation and a change of elected government. If charges of corruption against government functionaries were not enough,

The nature of mob violence, now, is different. It is more seemingly random and anarchic.

Analysts attribute the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021 to various factors. These include geopolitical shifts, and the Taliban’s tactics of warfare. However, fewer attempts have been made to understand the Taliban’s victory through internal mobilisation. This brief attempts to fill the gap, and examines the role of identity, grievance, and greed in the Taliban’s mobilisation and its contribution to a successful insurgency. It out

India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions for climate action emphasises the creation of an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to three billion tonnes by 2030 by increasing the country’s green cover. At the same time, however, harmful human activities such as legal and illegal logging, as well as deforestation for development purposes seem poised to negate the impact of these climate-action plans. While steps are being taken to prevent t