Search

There is no doubt that federalism and the increasing role of states in foreign policy is a reality and not something detrimental. It is important, however, to deal with this reality in a mature and pro-active manner.

As a rising India engages the world with confidence in an increasingly challenging environment, informed contestations on foreign policy should be the norm.

As President Barack Obama reaches the twilight of his first term, he has to enter the grind yet again, go all out to try and convince the voters that he deserves another term.

As the US Presidential elections unfold, Republican candidates would be thoroughly tested on their merit of thinking creatively on issue-based solutions to global challenges and exploring facets of diplomacy and non-military aspects of foreign policies in contrast to the focus on military interventionism and a hawkish vision of American policies abroad.

Delhi appears set for a regime change, probably by the BJP-led coalition. However, there is unlikely to be any major change in Indian Foreign Policy. There might be more rhetoric, but not much in substance and action. In all probability, it will be a foreign policy which is realist and pragmatic.

In not agreeing to have a parliamentary resolution against Sri Lanka, the Parliament has demonstrated where politics ends and policy-making on a sensitive area as external affairs and neighbourhood relations begin.

The most recent Tokyo Conference on the Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka was held at Washington D.C., on February 17, 2004, as a follow-up meet to discuss the international community¿s support for Sri Lanka¿s peace process.

Observer Research Foundation organised a lecture by Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary, Government of India, on "Indian Foreign Policy: The Challenges Ahead" on Tuesday April 10, at the ORF Delhi campus.

Launching the new book of Dr. C. Raja Mohan, 'Modi's World' on Friday, Indian Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar explained the changes brought out by the foreign policy of the Modi government.

Though Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh's Bangladesh visit was kept low key, the timely interactions she had in Dhaka helped India shed its image of a reluctant neighbour besides helping her make a realistic assessment of the situation there and evaluate possible fallouts on regional stability.

India's total trade deficit with the world now is USD 13472.18 millions. A major component of Indian exports is agricultural commodities. The northeastern region performs well in horticulture. However, challenges to the produce finally turning into exports remain unaddressed for long.

Someday, Gwadar port in Pakistan might well emerge as a full-fledged Chinese naval facility. For now, Karachi already serves as a major facility for the projection of Chinese naval power into the Indian Ocean.

The Hangzhou G20 summit was about taking stock of the economic situation in a world where global recovery from the 2008 crisis remains sluggish.

China’s approach to trade has stood impervious to change. It is time for a new geoeconomic approach to counter China. Like-minded nations can fashion rapid arrangements to grow the supply chains that matter most, such as for electric vehicles (EV). The US and India, plus Australia, Canada, Japan, Britain, Taiwan, Korea, and Mexico can form an EV supply chain compact to create a level playing field within the group and incentivise their

'Nuclear Security in India' Report, launched recently by former PM Envoy on Non-Proliferation Rakesh Sood, sets out a list of policy recommendations which essentially seeks to address the gaps that still remain in the overall architecture of nuclear security in the country.

Over the past decade, Mumbai’s civil society has raised concerns over the way in which the municipal corporation appears to be prioritising rapid development at the cost of the city’s public space. Indeed, the city has lost significant areas of its open spaces owing to various reasons, among them archaic policies, unrealistic goals, and the labyrinthine division of power and jurisdiction between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and othe

The Observer Research Foundation organised a roundtable on the "Forthcoming Presidential Election in India" on April 27, 2007 at the ORF Campus, Delhi. The roundtable was attended by several eminent personalities from the media, academia, political parties and think-tanks. The discussion largely focused on the possible contenders, the current electoral strengths of various political formations and possible scenarios that are likely to emerge.

With much fanfare, Indian Prime Minister Modi's trip to the United States came to a close September 30. However, beyond catchy slogans, are current Indo-US space cooperative initiatives living up to their full potential? Will space help India and the U.S. move forward together for a better world?

In all the hype and hyperbole about what to do with coal blocks, the plain fact is that the real danger lies in our coal reserves turning valueless for the country, of no benefit to the owner - the people of the land. They will be value less if we don't extract them before they turn un-burnable by climate action a few decades from now.

I have no problem with military officers running a nation as long as they are out of uniform and have won the mandate to do so. But when a military officer ousts a legitimate civilian government, refuses to shed his uniform and abuses the basic democratic right of franchise, there is a reason for the civilized world to be alarmed and ashamed. Such men are a blot on the democratic, civilized world.

Competition, cooperation, conflict and containment need to be managed wisely

After sending out confusing signal for months, France may have chosen the worst possible moment for intervention. Because its procrastinations allowed a whole range of potential opponents to mingle and be jointly prepared just in case the French did intervene.

It would be worth France, India, and Japan beginning an institutionalised and wide-ranging dialogue to ensure that the three of them can better coordinate their activities in the Indo-Pacific — not necessarily to counter China, but to encourage it to cooperate.

France will continue to work closely with the new US administration irrespective of uncertainty in President-elect Donald Trump's policies.

In this digital age, how free speech is dealt with in a multipolar world, and the emergence of the new and complex forms of censorship were discussed in a talk on "Rethinking Media Freedom in the Digital Age" at the Observer Research Foundation.

India pulled out of the planned Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2018 after entering negotiations in 2013. India has a trade deficit with 11 out of the 15 RCEP countries and some analysts have theorised that India decided to opt out of the agreement because of such adverse trade balance.  Indeed, India has a trade deficit with most of its trade partners in past free trade agreements (FTAs). It is in this context that this br

The quotas in textiles, enforced under the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) which was signed in 1994, are going to be lifted on December 31, 2004 and the trade in textiles would come under the WTO directly. It means that all forms of protectionism applied to textile industries the world over, would have to go.

The COP21 was at the heart of the conversation on July 28 at the French Embassy in India, where the fifth in a monthly series of talks leading up to the Paris conference was held in partnership with Observer Research Foundation.

Should the story of the French in Syrian custody become public in France, the voters will ask: did the government sanction illegal entry of our soldiers into foreign countries? Is the Syrian rebellion an imported rebellion?

Although Modi could not make Japan his first foreign destination as PM, he has kept the essence of his promise that he would attach special significance to ties with Tokyo. His trip to Japan is his first bilateral diplomatic engagement outside the subcontinent.

The amazingly imbalanced judgement on Binayak Sen handed down by the Chattisgarh court has some lessons for all. Basically, intellectuals are being put on notice. Don't cross the Red Line otherwise this will be your fate.

If the ISIS is not brought under control, the chances are that it could spread to Pakistan, especially Waziristan, a tribal region which plays host to most terror outfits. This could in turn affect India by means of border infiltrations.

The Taliban, ably helped by Pakistan, the US’s frontline ally in its global war on terror, has badly dented the notion of US invincibility. Despite President Joe Biden’s efforts in recent months to reassure allies that “America is back”, there is a wariness about both US commitment and its competence.

China remains a superpower in the making but its journey has now become profoundly more difficult

Better policing, if nothing else, could help eliminate the existing air of permissiveness and re-introduce a sense of security in women - and also in men - inside their homes and outside - than at present.

The 77-paragraph outcomes statement from the Ufa BRICS summit was inevitably going to be a list of ideas that would cater to different expectations and aspirations of each of its members.

India’s demographic advantage presents a strategic window of opportunity to build a globally competitive and future-ready workforce. This demands that traditional education systems evolve to equip young learners with transferable and job-relevant competencies, commonly referred to as ‘21st-century skills’. Anchored in the context of India’s socio-economic and policy landscape, this paper outlines a strategic framework for integrating 21st

The Vice-President of Maldives, in his address to the ORF faculty, recounts the long and bitter-sweet struggle against autocratic rule in his country. With an elected government now at the helm and democracy gradually taking roots in different spheres of society, he outlines the crucial challenges that lie ahead for the island nation.

If there is one thing on which all the ¿Dravidian parties¿ of Tamil Nadu stand united today, it is their criticism of the Union budget, presented by fellow Tamil leader Palaniappan Chidambaram. In doing so the DMK, the PMK and the MDMK, allies of the Congress at the Centre, have restricted their criticism to the proposed tax on the daily withdrawal of money from one¿s own bank account.

Beginning in 2017, the first Trump Administration steered United States (US)-China relations from engagement to competition. Thereafter, Biden largely built on this policy, while giving indications of moving towards a phase of “competitive co-existence”. Under Biden, the US sought to reassure China that it was adopting a strategy of “de-risking” and not “de-coupling,” and its goal was to adopt a technology export regime that would als

By delineating bilateral relations from the larger SAARC format, and at the same time taking them up after the Islamabad summit had addressed major agendas, India and Pakistan have done well for themselves and for the region ¿ without continuing to hold one the hostage of the other.

Most leading air forces around the world were quick to learn from the experiences of the US Air Force between the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the Gulf War three decades later. This resulted in the widespread adoption by these forces of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) beginning in the mid-1990s. Only a few of these air arms, however, have matched the overall effectiveness of US air power, which combines aircraft survivability with weapon range,

The BCIM Forum has come a long way, but there are still challenges. Clearing the geopolitical air may prove more beneficial on both domestic as well as international levels, than keeping them in the shadows.