Amit Bhandari

Recent projects

podcast MK Courtesy: Abhijit Chavda Podcast
27 May 2025 Abhijit Chavda Podcast

Emerging Middle Powers beyond U.S. and China

The rules-based world, perceived to be functional till last year, seems broken, giving way to an increasingly multipolar order. Manjeet Kripalani, Executive Director, Gateway House discusses in the Abhijit Chavda podcast, how emerging middle powers like India, Brazil, and Indonesia to name a few, have the heft to rewrite the rules of global trade and reform, away from U.S. and China.
India Today (1) Courtesy: India Today
26 May 2025 Gateway House

India’s evolving defence doctrine

The Pahalgam attack has changed India’s strategic calculus. With Operation Sindoor, the country is moving towards a more assertive posture, consolidating its strategy around an evolving doctrine of Proactive Deterrence underpinned by Calibrated Coercive Capability. A strategic practitioner’s viewpoint is below.
Website articles  (19) Courtesy: Reuters
22 May 2025 The Indian Express

India-UK FTA: Four benefits for India

The India-UK Free Trade Agreement comes amidst increasing economic uncertainty caused by the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff policies. The FTA has revitalised previously lethargic discussions for India to conclude FTAs between like-minded countries. An India-EU FTA, along with the India-UK FTA, may reform global rule-making on international trade and perhaps even revive the WTO.
Website articles  (17) Courtesy: Nayanima Basu
19 May 2025 Gateway House

India’s three-pronged war strategy

Operation Sindoor has established a “new normal” in India-Pakistan relations. It has also given the world a glimpse into the Narendra Modi government’s future strategy in countering terrorism supported by the Pakistani Army and ISI, and how New Delhi will manage the Kashmir dispute.
The New Indian Express Courtesy: The New Indian Express
19 May 2025 Hindustan Times

Post-Pahalgam diplomacy

Studying the reaction of key stakeholders to the India-Pakistan conflict, and how India’s diplomatic machine coped with it, is revealing. Some of the major powers like the U.S., raised the temperature, China expectedly stood by Pakistan while Russia once again proved a dependable friend. Unsurprisingly, South Asia had a consistently neutral stance toward the conflict.
Website articles  (10) Courtesy: Gateway House
15 May 2025 Gateway House

The New Geopolitics and South Asia’s Trade Architecture – What Next?

Geopolitics is increasingly intertwined with the economic destiny of South Asia. Even before the U.S. tariffs were rolled out, growing polycrises had hit the global economy, which has been struggling since the pandemic. South Asia seems a relatively bright spark of regional trade and growth. This paper analyses South Asia’s trade architecture in the backdrop of a sluggish world economy in the 2020s, and makes recommendations for closer regional economic integration.
Website articles  (12) Courtesy: Gateway House
15 May 2025 Gateway House

U.S., Global Emperor of Sanctions

Over two centuries, the U.S. has amassed vast economic powers across the globe during and after the two World Wars , and sanctions slowly became an effective tool it used to achieve its foreign policy goals, becoming the global emperor of sanctions.
Website articles  (8) Courtesy: The Diplomatist
12 May 2025 Momentum for Middle Powers: Emerging Middle Powers Report

The Emerging Exception

The traditional label of ‘middle power’ fails to capture India’s growing status. The country’s ability to shape the international discourse is no longer in question. India sees itself as a key player the global order.
Website articles  (5) Courtesy: PTI
9 May 2025 The Indian Express

Three messages from Operation Sindoor

Operation Sindoor conveyed three messages: First, to Pakistan that it will have to bear the consequences of continuing to support terrorism. Second, to terrorists, that Bharat will inflict the same pain, if not more, than they inflict on Indian citizens. Third, to the world, that Bharat is resolute in responding to terrorism in a “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible” manner.