India's Changing Afghanistan Policy: Regional and Global Implications
Abstract : Since 2001, Afghanistan has allowed New Delhi an opportunity to underscore its role as a regional power. India has growing stakes in peace and stability in Afghanistan, and the 2011 India-Afghan strategic partnership agreement underlines India's commitment to ensure that a positive momentum in Delhi-Kabul ties is maintained. This monograph examines the changing trajectory of Indian policy toward Afghanistan since 2001 and argues that New Delhi has been responding to a strategic environment shaped by other actors in the region. As the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces prepare to leave Afghanistan in 2014, India stands at a crossroads as it remains keen to preserve its interests in Afghanistan. This monograph underlines the ever-evolving Indian policy in Afghanistan by examining it in three phases, before drawing out the implications of this change for the region and the United States. There has been a broader maturing of U.S.-India defense ties, and Afghanistan is likely to be a beneficiary of this trend. Managing Pakistan and unravelling Islamabad's encirclement complex should be the biggest priority for both Washington and New Delhi in the coming years if there is to be any hope of keeping Afghanistan a stable entity post-2014.
Sowing the seeds of soft power: the United States and India in the next great game
Abstract : In both the 2010 and 2015 National Security Strategy, the White House published President Barack Obamas remarks emphasizing that the United States must integrate all the tools of national power to further U.S. strategic interests. This is especially true in a dynamic and increasingly multipolar world. In what this thesis calls the Next Great Game, the future key players in this emerging geopolitical scenario are Iran, Russia, China, and India. This thesis focuses on India. Using Joseph Nyes concept of hard power and soft power, this thesis explores what bonds can and do serve to align the United States and India. In doing so, this thesis makes it clear that the United States and India share several soft power bonds as a result of their respective historic connections to British colonialism, which to a certain degree has already set the conditions for the integration of all the tools of U.S. national power with India. Though historic disagreements and complex regional relations stymie the process, the United States must be cognizant of the type of relationship that is presenting itself and understand that the tools of government may be less important than the form of power being exercised.
Saudi Arabia Enters the Twenty-First Century: The Political, Foreign Policy, Economic, and Energy Dimensions
Volume 1: the political, foreign policy, economic and energy dimensions. Volume 2: the military and international security dimensions.