International Relations and Diplomacy

Book Review: ‘A Life Well Spent: Four Decades in the Indian Foreign Service’; Amb. Satish Chandra, Roopa Publications, 2023, ISBN: 9357020950, pp. 284, Rs 636

Amb D P Srivastava, Distinguished Fellow, VIF

The book by Ambassador Satish Chandra covers four decades he served in the Indian Foreign Service from 1965 to 2005. The book is not simply an account of his personal journey. It provides a glimpse into the making of foreign policy. It also covers...

May 19, 2023

Tags: National Security and Strategic Studies, 1971, Awami League, foreign policy, Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan, UNCHR, Jammu & Kashmir, International Relations and Diplomacy

China in the Cyber Domain, Major General PK Mallick, VSM, Prints Publications Pvt Ltd. 2022. ISBN:978-93-936740-4-3

Colonel Rajiv Kumar Srivastava

Millions of smartphones or computers and their hardware all over the world with made-in-China tags provide a sense that the Dragon country is perhaps one of the most advanced IT-enabled countries. PLA soldiers are safe behind their high-tech Digital...

January 19, 2023

Tags: Chinese Cyber, Covid, cyber domain, cyber firewall, PLA, China, International Relations and Diplomacy

Destined for war: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? By Graham Allison. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2017. 384pp. ISBN 978-0-544-93527-3

Kartikeya Pandey

“Let China sleep; when she wakes, she will shake the world.” said Napoleon more than two hundred years ago and quoted by the author in the very first chapter of the book which talked about the rise of China. The author contends that the growth of...

December 19, 2022

Tags: Industrial Revolution, Napoleon, Russia, United States, US-Japan, China, US, International Relations and Diplomacy

Qin, Hui, 2021. Globalization after the Pandemic: Thoughts on the Coronavirus. Translated by David Own by. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Mihir Vikrant Kaulgud

During the pandemic, China has pursued a “zero COVID policy,” which has required harsh restrictions on citizens' mobility and freedoms. Well into 2022, the Chinese government is shutting down entire districts, because a few asymptomatic COVID cases...

August 18, 2022

Tags: COVID-19, Human Rights, zero COVID policy, China, International Relations and Diplomacy

Kashi Ram Sharma, ‘The Third Birth of Confucius: Reconstructing the Ancient Chinese Philosophy in the Post-Mao China’. New Delhi, Manohar, 2022. 385pp. Rs. 1,995.00

Prof K Warikoo

Kashi Ram Sharma, ‘The Third Birth of Confucius: Reconstructing the Ancient Chinese Philosophy in the Post-Mao China’. New Delhi, Manohar, 2022. 385pp. Rs. 1,995.00Confucius has made a remarkable comeback in China. As the author emphasizes, “...

July 25, 2022

Tags: Buddhism, China, Chinese civilization, Mao, China, International Relations and Diplomacy

The Spectre of Afghanistan: Security in Central Asia by Kirill Nourzhanov and Amin Saikal; London, I.B.TAURIS Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2021, pp. 249.

Dr Pravesh Kumar Gupta, Associate Fellow, VIF

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are three Central Asian countries that share geographical boundaries and cross-border ethnic linkages with Afghanistan. As a result, the developments in Afghanistan have directly impacted these countries....

June 20, 2022

Tags: Central Asia, Central Asian countries, NATO, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United States, Uzbekistan, International Relations and Diplomacy

Evolving security dynamic in West Asia and India’s challenges

Huma Siddiqui

As the controversy over the disrespect to Islam and the Holy Prophet by some errant individuals of the Indian ruling party raged across West Asia , I was happy to see the book edited by veteran diplomat and West Asia expert Ambassador Anil...

June 11, 2022

Tags: Afghanistan, China, Indo-Pacific, Middle East, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, WANA region, West Asia, International Relations and Diplomacy

"The Harambee Factor: India - Africa Economic and Development Partnership” by Ambassador Gurjit Singh, Macmillan Education India Pvt. Ltd., Pp 500 2022, INR 2,802. ISBN: 978-93-5455-069-0

Samir Bhattacharya

A wealth of literature illustrates China's relationship with Africa in all of its facets. In comparison, there isn't nearly enough research on India's engagement in Africa in its entirety. In that sense, there is hardly any literature that deals...

June 2, 2022

Tags: development partnership, India-Africa, Lines of Credit, Africa, International Relations and Diplomacy

"India–Africa Relations: Changing Horizons" by Rajiv Bhatia, Routledge India, Pp 244, 15 November 2021, INR 995. ISBN 9781032268989

Samir Bhattacharya

Former High Commissioner to Kenya, South Africa and Lesotho, Ambassador Rajiv Kumar Bhatia, is a Distinguished Fellow of the Foreign Policy Studies Programme at Gateway House. In his new book titled "India-Africa Relations: Changing Horizons", the...

March 31, 2022

Tags: Gandhi, India-Africa Relations, Non-Alignment Movement, Africa, International Relations and Diplomacy

Harnessing the Trade Winds: The Story of the Centuries-Old Indian Trade with East Africa, Using the Monsoon Winds by Blanche Rocha D’Souza, (First published in Kenya in 2008 by Zand Graphics Ltd, Reprinted in India 2021 by Pentagon Press LLP.) Pp. 204. IN

Samir Bhattacharya

Long before the Christian era, Indians had the knowledge of monsoon winds. And Indians started sailing, not only before the European explorers of 14th centuries and around, but Indians sailed even before Hippalus, the Greek mariner, famous for...

November 15, 2021

Tags: Eastern Africa, Gandhi, Historiography, History, Indian Diaspora, Indian Marchants, Indian Ocean, Indian Traders, Maritime trade, Monsoon wind, Scramble for Africa, Ugandan railway, Africa, International Relations and Diplomacy