Journal of International Studies

A high-level bilateral visit in New Delhi this week demonstrates the myriad areas of cooperation between the two.

A man paints the logo of CHOGM 2013, ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013, in Colombo, Sri Lanka November 11, 2013 (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Courtesy Reuters). On Friday, November 15, the biennial  Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting  (CHOGM) convenes in Sri Lanka. This year’s gathering of  fifty-three Commonwealth members  has been anything but routine, however. A number of countries have had heated internal debates about their attendance and its intended signals; three have elected to send delegations below the “head of government” level as a way to highlight concerns about Sri Lanka’s limited progress on post-conflict reconciliation, human rights and democracy, and accountability for violations at the 2009 end of the nearly thirty-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a  public statement  explaining his decision to skip this year’s CHOGM by ...

The security landscape in South Asia is changing radically due to the introduction of new nuclear and conventional military capabilities by both India and Pakistan.

I became acquainted with Secretary McNamara in the mid- 1990s when I helped organize a series of Track II dialogues between Americans and Indians and Pakistanis. This was before India and Pakistan became overt nuclear-armed states with their tests in 1998. In these dialogues the aim was to discuss with influential Indians and Pakistanis – former generals, foreign secretaries, and the like – the risks and burdens that arise from nuclear-armed competition. No one had wrestled so hard and openly with these challenges as Robert McNamara. He had done so while serving as Secretary of Defense during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then in the decades following his government service. Thus, we were honored and moved that he would volunteer his time and subject his body to the wear and tear of travel to South Asia to share his experiences and perspectives. By the mid-1990s when we were conducting our dialogues in South Asia, the Cold War was over. McNamara had even earlier conclud...

The Indian Navy is reportedly looking to upgrade its submarines with advanced sonar and torpedoes in the near future. According to  The New Indian Express ,  the navy  "has chosen the German firm Atlas Elektronik to help it upgrade the heavyweight torpedoes, the most reliable weapons that can hit surface and underwater targets (SUT), for the four HDW Type 209 Shishumar class submarines, also of German origin.” Atlas Elektronik is also one of the firms likely to win a contract to supply the Indian Navy with Active Towed Array Sonars (ATAS). The ATAS systems would be fixed on non-submarine vessels, including the Delhi-class destroyers and Talwar-class frigates.  The New Indian Express  reports  that "The contract winning company would be required to transfer the technology of the ATAS system to Indian defence public sector Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to produce 10 more of the sonars for the Kolkata-class destroyers, Shivalik-class frigates and t...

For the Indian strategic community, the United States and China are the two dominant forces in foreign policy. Of the major bilateral visits this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia was relatively understated. Yet both from a global and regional security perspective, the Russia factor can no longer be ignored.  Russia and world order The Syrian crisis has been a turning point. Most observers have been surprised at the resilience of Russia's Syria policy. Many expected Moscow to ultimately buckle in the face of a Western onslaught. Yet, nimble diplomacy and a simultaneous maritime buildup in the eastern Mediterranean were able to steer the evolution of the crisis.  In September, the Russian Navy stated its Mediterranean deployments "can have a serious impact on the current military situation" around Syria. To be sure, the Obama administration did not appear inclined towards taking part in an escalatory game that could have spilled ov...