Soumyajit Kundu

The US has always reinforced its interests in foreign policy by giving it the name of ‘national interest’. Whether it is Alfred Mahan and his ideas of dominating foreign lands by controlling bases, the Monroe Doctrine which set up geopolitical zones of dominance, or the Roosevelt Corollary which gave a green light to interventionism as a necessary means to sustain regional stability, these paradigms have fostered an exceptionalist ideology that has seen American expansion as a special, noble...

For decades, India maintained a doctrine of strategic restraint with respect to Pakistan’s mischievous ‘bleed India with a thousand cuts’ doctrine, launched post-1971 war between the two countries. From the Indian perspective, it was driven by two main constraints, i.e., the responsibility of being the ‘big brother’, to maintain regional stability and, of course, ‘nuclear deterrence’. Thus, Pakistan had always exploited this gap by exploiting the twin protection of the distinction between...

India’s recent amendment to Press Note 3 (PN-3) has sparked a wave of commentary suggesting a diplomatic thaw with China. The popular phrase “Dragon–Elephant Tango” that has been popularised, especially by the Chinese media, captures the mood apparently. Yet, beneath this surface narrative lies a more complex reality, one driven less by sentiment and more by strategic compulsion in an increasingly uncertain world order. Let us dig deep into it. A Shift Triggered by a Changing World Part of...