Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Greetings from the International Strategic & Security Studies Programme (ISSSP) at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore.
We are happy to share with you our recent publications and events. Additionally, please find attached the ISSSP digest for the month of January, 2014 in the mail.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Authors: S. Chandrashekar and Soma Perumal
ISSSP Reflections
Author: M. Mayilvaganan
Author: Viswesh Rammohan
Outreach Publications
- India-US row: Voices from the streets (Al Jazeera- English)
Author: Arun Vishwanathan, Assistant Professor, ISSSP
_______________________________________________________
EVENTS
- Public Lecture: Geostrategic Significance of the Arab Spring || February 10, 2014
Speaker: Professor Mohammed Ayoob, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Relations, Michigan State University
About the Talk: The unfolding drama of the Arab Spring has demonstrated that it was not as autonomous a process as it appeared at first sight – that it was not merely a struggle between the forces of democratization and authoritarianism, the good guys and the bad guys. More often than not external powers, both regional and extra-regional, determined the outcomes of these uprisings to a much greater degree than did the local forces: Yemen (Saudi Arabia and the US), Libya (NATO), Bahrain (Saudi Arabia), even Egypt (US, Saudi Arabia, Israel) demonstrate the veracity of this proposition. This has become clear above all in Syria with the US, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, supporting the opposition and Iran and Russia supporting the regime. The Saudi-Iranian, US-Iranian, and US-Russian proxy wars are in full swing in Syria making the conflict intractable. Consequently, what started as domestic processes of democratic transformation in many of the countries have become hostage to multiple proxy wars going on in the Middle East – between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the US and Iran, Russia and the US. The ironies of these proxy wars are not lost on keen observers of the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia leading the counter-revolutionary brigade when it comes to Bahrain and Egypt but supporting the “democratic” opposition in Syria. External powers support to one side or the other has far less to do with supporting democracy and much more to do with their own strategic objectives in the region.
Audio and Pictures of the Talk: http://isssp.in/prof-mohammed-ayoob-on-geostrategic-significance-of-the-arab-spring/
- Public Lecture: Pivot or Pirouette: The U.S. Rebalance to Asia || January 3, 2014
Speaker: Dr. Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
About the Talk: The Obama administration’s “rebalance” to Asia has received widespread attention globally. In Europe, the rebalance has evoked fears that the United States might be abandoning old allies in light of the need to cope with new challenges elsewhere. In Asia, the rebalance has evoked mixed reviews: in China, it is viewed as a subtle form of containment whereas in other parts of Asia, it has been welcomed more fulsomely, even when many capitals have doubts about its effectiveness. So what is the rebalance anyway? The talk focused on understanding the genesis of the rebalancing policy, its specific objectives and its multiple dimensions, and its requirements for success. The speaker assessed whether the rebalance to Asia could in fact resolve the fundamental challenges facing the United States and its allies in the region.
Video and Pictures of the Talk: http://isssp.in/public-lecture-by-dr-ashley-tellis-on-u-s-rebalance-to-asia/
For frequent updates on ISSSP's publications and events, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & Youtube. You may also like to sign up for real-time updates on our website www.isssp.in
No comments:
Post a Comment