Interests over values
With the West losing its ability to set the rules of global order, what matters to nations is the dominance of interests over values, argue foreign policy experts
Courtesy: The Hindu
Courtesy: The Hindu
Courtesy: Sameer Patil
Naya Kashmir, at first sight
On a week-long October visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the author found both clarity and complexity among the citizens about their new status, and that the practicalities of daily life are more compelling than ideology
Courtesy: @narendramodi/twitter
Rice, Kissinger and history revisited
Dr Condoleezza Rice and Dr Henry Kissinger, speakers at the annual meeting of the U.S-India Strategic Partnership Forum, in Delhi in October 2019, kept the audience riveted. The topics covered included China as competitor, the earlier disharmony in India-U.S. relations, and tips from a veteran on the art of negotiation
Courtesy: Shutterstock
Hong Kong protests: new Cold War?
Partisan media coverage of the anti-government protests in Hong Kong points to a new Cold War between the United States and China. The author examines the divergent approaches of the Chinese and international media and the biases they betray
Courtesy: Shutterstock
Global protests: leaderless, youthful, persistent
There has been a wave of civil protests across the globe since early 2019 which have taken governments by surprise by their sheer intensity and resilience. The common impelling factor has been discontent with government. Other factors for the current wave, beginning with the Arab Uprising in 2011, have been corruption and regressive constitutional changes. This infographic charts the arc of the outcry
Courtesy: Government Law College, Mumbai
Debate on the newly assertive India
The world has changed – and so has India in the last 70 years since independence. Its foreign policy has evolved from non-alignment to multipolarity and to proactive participation in various multilateral organisations. Building on the work of its predecessors, the Modi government’s diplomacy articulates India’s interests more forthrightly and pursues them more energetically
Courtesy: Columbia University Press
Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Gulf
This book examines concisely and readably how the discovery of oil and natural gas transformed the six oil kingdoms of the Gulf, but profligate energy consumption at home challenged the basis of this very prosperity. It goes on to look at how these countries dealt with the economic crises that struck them
Courtesy: Asad Lalljee
A Lebanese Spring
Lebanon has been the scene of some of the biggest mass protests through the month of October. They arose in response to cumulative economic crises due to low economic growth and the government’s controversial austerity measures. But can they also be seen as an awakening of Lebanese society to the need for a more equitable political and social discourse?
Courtesy: Shutterstock
A search for order in cyberspace
A recent seminar on cyberspace stability in Shanghai showed a global preoccupation by nations to acquire capabilities and devise protective mechanisms against attacks. A reflection on two themes emerging from the discussions
Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
Bangladesh, India’s exemplary neighbour
Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India earlier this month, resulting in seven new agreements, showed the strength of the mutual relationship. But both governments need to address some rankling issues: the sharing of the Teesta waters, the Rohingya problem and repatriation of the illegal people from Assam