Founding India’s Gateway House Courtesy: Gateway House
26 November 2025

Founding India’s Gateway House

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A former diplomat and a journalist came together in 2009 to build what would become Mumbai’s first foreign policy think tank – Gateway House. It is India’s first women-founded think tank, and among the few globally established by two women. In this conversation with Akshobh Giridharadas of USISPF, co-founders Manjeet Kripalani and Neelam Deo reflect on Gateway House’s origins and the epiphany that India needed to shape global conversations with its own perspective, one that extended beyond New Delhi.

Gateway House (4) Courtesy: Gateway House
18 September 2025

A new momentum for middle powers

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The world is undergoing a profound transformation - not driven by the U.S., China, or Russia, but by small and medium states carving out their rightful space in the emerging order. With UN reform stalled, middle-power cooperation must organise effectively to push for a responsive multilateral system that works for all, ensuring institutions are reformed and made fit for today’s world.

Hindustan Times (1) Courtesy: X / PMOIndia
3 July 2025

PM Modi forges ties with G7, Cyprus, Croatia

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PM Modi's multi-country visit from 15-19 June to Cyprus, Canada, and Croatia demonstrated India's expertise in nurturing ties with great powers, middle powers and state powers.  The common thread was twofold: to represent India at the still-important summit of the Group of Seven in Alberta, and to push India’s strategic partnership with the EU, by forging closer ties with the countries of eastern and central Europe.

Ludovic MARIN AFP Courtesy: Ludovic MARIN / AFP
12 June 2025

Macron’s strategic Indo-Pacific sail

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Macron’s 2025 tour of Southeast Asia was intended to reinforce France’s strategic commitment to the Indo-Pacific. By engaging with three key ASEAN members - Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore - France wants to forge partnerships beyond its traditional transatlantic ties. Its Indo-Pacific vision is based on its territorial presence, economic interests, and diplomacy values, which it hopes will be an alternative to the binary logic of U.S.-China rivalry.

India Today (1) Courtesy: India Today
26 May 2025

India’s evolving defence doctrine

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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.

Manifestos Courtesy: Business Standard
2 May 2024

Foreign policy in India’s electoral fray

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As 960 million Indians set out to cast their votes in the on-going electoral fray, a good number will be concerned with India’s global image and policy, now more front-and-centre than ever before. The contesting political parties have differing views of how India should engage internationally. How will these resonate with the vast electorate? The foreign policy agendas in the various party manifestos are worth assessing.

nawaz-modi-saarc-reuters Courtesy: The Wire
9 January 2024

India and South Asia: what to expect in 2024

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The more India enjoys cooperative relations with its neighbours, the greater its ability to exert influence in the world. Meanwhile, neighbours looking at India with a reasonable mindset may internalise that cooperating with the world’s fifth largest economy is clearly in their interest.

20231118_TWLDD002 Courtesy: The Economist
4 January 2024

Reading the tea leaves for 2024

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After a year affected by a sustained polycrisis, global geopolitics in 2024 remains a delicate dance between hope and realism. Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza cast uncertain shadows, while Taiwan and the South China Sea present potential flashpoints. Indian diplomacy will have to navigate old and new challenges, while promoting India’s expertise in digital technology, as also managing its own upcoming parliamentary elections.