This commentary recounts the important hallmarks of the institutional history of the Indian Council of World Affairs, one of India's first publicly funded research institutions. It presents a brief account of its long history since 1943, its career in acquiring prominence, its decline and its revival. This commentary takes off from its recently published institutional history (Raghavan, T., & Mishra, V. [2021]. Sapru House: A story of institution building in world affairs).
Richard T Griffiths, The New Silk Road: Challenge and Response. Leiden: HIPE Publications, 2019, pp. 157, $19.22. ISBN 978-94-92439-04-8. Nasir Raza Khan (Ed.), India and the Silk Road: Exploring Current Opportunities. New Delhi: Primus Books, 2019, pp. 269, ₹1,250.00. ISBN 978-93-5290-722-9.
Gilgit-Baltistan region is a Shia-majority region, illegally controlled by Pakistan and enjoys semi-provincial status as a part of Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK). Sectarian violence has a long history in Pakistan as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan region. It has increased in the region since the 1980s, especially after the construction of the Karakoram Highway, which connects this region with China and mainland Pakistan. The Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979, General Zia's policy of Islamization, and the Afghan jihad during the 1980s did not leave this region untouched. The poor economic conditions and the absence of government's educational institutions have witnessed a mushrooming of madrasas that preach sectarian hatred and extremism. The fragile political system, along with an ineffective judicial system of the region has aggravated the sectarian violence further. All these had a cumulative effect on the promotion of sectarian violence in the region. In such a background, the article is an attempt to analyze the various aspects of sectarian violence in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Indian democracy has acquired a venerable place among the comity of thriving and robust democracies in the world due to its unflinching resilience and almost unhindered continuity. The case of Indian democracy receives accolades and appreciation due to its survival and durability in unimaginably challenging circumstances through history, especially in its peaceful transition of power between sworn rival parties.1 However, despite palpable success in keeping the elements of procedural democracy intact, including the perpetual election cycle in India, while still guaranteeing civil and political liberties to its citizens, Indian democracy is replete with a plethora of impediments which is indiscernibly enervating the substance that a democratic project entails. One such glaring shortcoming of Indian democracy is the lack of internal democratic functioning of the political parties in India.
In the past, India's resolve to connect with countries further to its east centred on its relationship with ASEAN as a group and lacked a holistic outlook as it emphasised on a lopsided approach that left out the security dimension. The bilateral relationship between Bangkok and New Delhi marks an emerging departure from this past trend. In the recent past, Thailand has emerged as a bright spot in India's vast array of security relationships, with growing focus on maritime security, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, joint patrols and exchange of personnel in training. Besides boosting interoperability, increasing joint actions seek to marry India's Act East policy with Thailand's Look West policy, both of which emerged in the past decade of the twentieth century. Both countries look to strengthening their resolve in the Indo-Pacific, even as the region's stability gets further complicated by sharpening Great Power politics. This article scrutinises the India–Thailand relationship from a security perspective and tests the compatibility of this emerging bilateral relationship with a regional security architecture conceptualisation in the Indo-Pacific. As such, this article seeks to fulfil two important goals: fill the literature deficit in India–Thailand relations that has often been eclipsed and subsequently neglected by the overarching canvass of India–ASEAN relations and analyse India–Thailand bilateral relations from the perspective of an emerging security partnership in the complex labyrinth of relationships in the Indo-Pacific.
