Academic and columnist M.D. Nalapat, in this interview with Manjeet Kripalani, speaks of how a tardy bureaucracy has brought about “a too-cautious” policy towards the U.S. and China as opposed to the former Gujarat chief minister’s greater openness in consulting people before handing over policy implementation to the bureaucracy. He also discusses the prime minister’s shrewd approach to South Asia, the dependable warmth of the Japanese and a range of other topics
Courtesy: MEA Flickr
The current political unrest in Sri Lanka and coups in Maldives and Zimbabwe bear a Chinese imprint. China’s use of strong-arm tactics smacks of the very behaviour that it had earlier criticised in former colonial powers
Courtesy: Western Naval Command
China has expanded its presence in the Indian Ocean Region. President Xi Jinping has abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s conciliatory posture for an aggressive, money-fuelled search for super power status
Courtesy: BBC
Germany and India have revealed a dual priority for Africa: creating opportunities for prosperity and promoting stability. For both, these are uncharted waters and represents a shift in the locus of global dynamism, away from an Anglo-Saxon world order to a more diverse yet potentially fissiparous one
Courtesy: Dr. Jehangir Sorabjee
The recent inauguration of the New Development Bank in Shanghai has made that city a focal point of international financial transactions between the five BRICS countries. This occasions revisiting some of the ways in which Bombay has been historically linked to it
Courtesy: BBC
At present, South Africa finds itself charting political and economic policy uncertainties. This is not to suggest that the domestic political crisis will see different trajectories unfolding with regard to its BRICS/IBSA engagements, or on a broader foreign policy path, but it will have repercussions at the international level, in terms of investor confidence, credit ratings, and currency volatility. Pretoria will face constant pressure to be seen as a credible actor, especially when it comes to its African identity.
Courtesy: GovernmentZA/Flickr
The African National Congress party which has won its fifth consecutive victory in the elections faces a long-term challenge, both on the streets and at the ballot box. The newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters party has cut into the ANC’s base significantly in habitual strongholds like Gauteng, the economic hub
Courtesy: GovernmentZA/Flickr
The African National Congress has swept the polls in South Africa but high unemployment, violent labour strikes and allegations of crony capitalism has seen an erosion of the ANC’s support base among the black middle class voters whose backing the ANC has traditionally enjoyed
Courtesy: Matthew Willman/UN/NMF Photo/
In 1993, Nelson Mandela said: “We will have to go on striving to prove that King was right…when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.” By learning from the tenacity of this striving, rather than by measuring outcomes, we can best honour Mandela
Courtesy: GovernmentZA/Flickr
The ZANU-PF party’s recent victory in the elections in Zimbabwe is fraught with allegations of manipulation. Reactions have varied, but South African President Jacob Zuma has endorsed the outcome. How will Mugabe’s re-election impact relations with South Africa? What will be the impact on Zimbabwe’s economy?
