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Note From the Editor: Winter 2020
No full textoai:ojs2.ojs.indrastra.com:article/15CLAWS Journal Winter 2020 is a “Special Issue” that holds significance in many ways. Contextually, it highlights the commemorative spirit of the 15 Years of Excellence of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, and conceptually it puts forward an understanding of China in the current dynamic vis-à-vis India, from a wide range of perspectives, especially from India, United States, Bangladesh, and Australia
Role of Organisations as Non-State Actors in International Relations
Full text linkNation-states have traditionally occupied an inviolable position as sole actors on the world stage. States act as rational autonomous entities that follow their self-interest with the goals of security, sovereignty, and survival in perspective. In their pursuit of security, states amass resources that allow their military and economic capabilities to increase their power relative to other states. The primacy of states within International relations, however, is now being questioned by the emergence of nonstate actors in world affairs and the changing nature of global governance. State power can be exercised along with the influence of soft power, economy-based decisions, and the role of private actors or organizations, all of which have now become legitimate mediums of governance in the present-day International system
COVID-19 and Xi Jinping\u27s Fight and Win Strategy: Implications for China
Full text linkOn January 28, 2020, in a meeting with the World Health Organization\u27s (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the spread of novel coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan (the capital of central China\u27s Hubei province), Chinese President Xi Jinping remarked, saying, “The epidemic is a devil. We will not let it hide.” Furthermore, Xi affirmed that China has full confidence and capability to win the battle against the virus outbreak. As noted, on March 10 at Wuhan, Xi declared: “Victory for Wuhan, a victory for Hubei, and victory for China!” What is striking to note, as China declared its win over the epidemic, WHO on March 11, declared COVID-19 as a global “pandemic.
Psychological Warfare: Call Out Adversaries\u27 Designs
Full text linkIn the emerging security environment, psychological warfare has become a significant and cost-effective non-lethal method to influence the target segment that is not controlled by any universally accepted laws, rules, usages, and customs. What adds to it are the radical changes in the geopolitical and geo-economic environment, information and communication technology (ICT), which is not only the predominant driver of change in future conflicts, but it is a potent weapon of today and tomorrow. The paper aims to briefly study the historical perspective and application of psychological warfare (psywar) at all levels, including International, national, and military levels. With a brief look at different terms in vogue and the overall aim, it would also briefly analyse the psywar being waged by Pakistan and China against India at different levels and what should be India\u27s actions to ensure an effective psywar policy and strategy.
Note: The latest data used in the paper is until 30 September 2020
The Choice: India, America and the Future of Human Freedom
Full text linkRarely in history are the choices put before one nation and one people so consequential, and not simply to that country\u27s own future, but to the course of humanity. Rarely does such a momentous time emerge that will decide the fate of many nations. Rarer still do the forces in such a world come together in a way that one nation\u27s choices and actions may reverberate for good or for ill across the decades to come. Such a time is upon us now
The Ladakh Crisis and the Opportunity for US-India Relations—with a Catch
Full text linkThe recent India-China border crisis in Ladakh underscores the threat posed by Beijing to the United States (US) and Indian interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Accordingly, the spat presents opportunities to strengthen the US-India partnership. However, the crisis also risks exposing the partnership\u27s limits. This paper argues that to fully capitalise on the opportunities that the crisis generates for US-India relations, Washington and New Delhi should make some definitional and operational calibrations to their relationship. Additionally, America should expand its geographic conception of “Indo Pacific” beyond sea-based theatres and into land-based spaces, including the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This wider purview would strengthen US-India relations and serve US interests more broadly by expanding the scope for cooperation with Indo-Pacific states within the ambit of America\u27s Asia policy
ISI in Pakistan\u27s Domestic Politics: An Assessment
Full text linkThe article showcases a larger-than-life image of Pakistan\u27s Intelligence agencies highlighting their role in the domestic politics of Pakistan, by understanding the Inter-Service Agencies (ISI), objectives, and machinations as well as their domestic political role play. This is primarily carried out by subverting the political system through various means, with the larger aim of ensuring an unchallenged Army rule. In the present times, meddling, muddling and messing in, the domestic affairs of the Pakistani Government fall in their charter of duties, under the rubric of maintenance of national security. Its extra-constitutional and extraordinary powers have undoubtedly made it the potent symbol of the ‘Deep State\u27
Chinese Intransigence: Catalyst for Change in Indian Policies
Full text linkSince April 2020, a myriad of ‘whys and wherefores\u27 on China\u27s premeditated aggression around its periphery and against India in Eastern Ladakh, have been analysed ad infinitum. Inconclusive debates on China\u27s belligerence against its neighbouring countries have called it a pursuit of its geopolitical ambitions by adopting expansionist designs. Wherein, mainly against India, China\u27s adventurism is argued on the grounds of abrogation of Article 370; infrastructure construction along the Line of Actual Control (LAC); New Delhi\u27s stringent opposition to the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP); growing linkages with the United States (US), and more specifically, the Indo-Pacific activism under Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD). Suffice it to say, having deemed to have ‘risen,\u27 China is stirring tense geopolitical confrontations that, undeniably, demonstrates Beijing\u27s hegemonic aspirations
Tim Marshall, Prisoners of Geography (UK: Elliott & Thomson Ltd, 2019)
No full textThe watchword in the book is ‘geography\u27. Taking it as the cue, Tim Marshall narrates world history in a very simple manner, by logically arguing: why conflicts persist in some parts of the world, the reason behind the prosperity of a few nations, and the twist of nature by which certain regions even though blessed with natural resources continue to be underdeveloped
Note From the Editor: Summer 2020
No full textWhile planning for the CLAWS Journal Summer Issue 2020 was in progress, the world was, and is continuing to fight a different battle altogether—‘a faceless enemy\u27 in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Issue also occurs at the time when a series of transformations in the world in terms of conceptual understandings of various phenomenons, the precedence of non-traditional securities over conventional ones, challenges and threats to strategic assets emanating from advancement in technology, empowerment of social media as the fifth state, etc. are at the forefront. All of these changing dynamics are noteworthy, especially from a land warfare perspective