Securing the Indo-Pacific region

Michael Auslin, AEI's director of Japan Studies states that the Indo-Pacific's unique geography makes the balance of regional security most vulnerable in its "commons": the open seas, air lanes, and cyber networks that link the region together and to the world and the US and its partners goals would be to ensure access, contain conflicts, deter threats and evolve liberal norms in the commons. In an op-ed for the AEI, "Security in the Indo-Pacific Commons", he states that the regional politico-military strategy should have a muscular US forward military component augmented by a close security partnership among nations that shared common concerns and promotion of a liberal agenda in the region.

On "Cyber"War

PAUL CORNISH, DAVID LIVINGSTONE, DAVE CLEMENTE and CLAIRE YORKE of the Chatham House assess the evolving challenges in cyberspace and describe it as terra nullius, beyond the reach of mature political discourse providing actors opportunities to achieve strategic objectives without armed conflict, conferring disproportionate power, anonymity, a blurring of military-civilian boundaries and that cyberspace could be considered a fifth battlespace after land, water, air and space. In a Chatham House report, "On Cyber warfare", they argue that cyber warfare should be constrained and validated by politics, ethics, norms and values, to resolve its challenges while extending its complexities back into the world of politics would question deeply embedded assumptions about the primacy of the state, the authority of government and the role of government agencies and the armed forces as providers of national security.

GAP - Index to assess preparedness on global aging

RICHARD JACKSON, NEIL HOWE, KEISUKE NAKASHIMA, fellows at the Global Aging Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) state that the global economic crisis has left many elders vulnerable while reducing the room for governments to accommodate rising old-age dependency costs. In a CSIS analysis, "The Global Aging Preparedness Index", they analyze the progress that twenty countries worldwide are making in preparing for global aging, and particularly the old-age dependency dimension of the challenge and state that extending work lives and increasing funded retirement savings represented the easiest solutions to implement that balanced the needs of the elderly and the younger workforce.

Channeling foreign capital inflows

ESWAR PRASAD, fellow at Brookings Institution and Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University analyzes India’s record current account deficit and asserts that policymakers must look for more ways to channel capital inflows into productive investments, which would help the country attain the potential benefits of foreign capital with less exposure to the risks of volatile short-term flow. In an op-ed for the Wall Street journal, "How India Can Cope With Plenty", he recommends multiple measures that policymakers could implement such as: opening up FDI to various sectors, reforming corporate bond markets, tackling corruption and red-tape, reining in government expenditure, and switching from inefficient subsidies to direct cash transfers, arguing that the current period of high growth and large capital inflows could be the best ever opportunity for India to implement those reforms.

Dealing with Chinese mercantilism

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN of the Peterson Institute draws lessons from history of Chinese mercantilism of the early 1800s to state that dealing with Beijing effectively required a greater sensitivity to its history that meant greater use of carrots rather than sticks and a multilateral rules-based approach rather than a unilateral approach related to specific outcomes. In an op-ed in Business Standard, "Chinese Mercantilism: The Long View", he calls for a long view on China that relied on nudging Beijing away from the path of mercantilism rather than a confrontational approach in spite of a range of unhelpful Chinese actions across a gamut of political and economic issues, stating that a dominant China may no longer be amenable to force

Countering Jihad

THOMAS HEGGHAMMER, of Oslo's Norwegian Defence Research Establishment analyzes the phenomenon of the Muslim foreign fighter to explain what drove Muslims to fight in transnational wars for each other, mostly after 1980 and posits that the phenomenon was a violent offshoot of the pan-Islamist identity movement that arose in 1970s through a process of elite competition. In an article for International Security, "The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad", he states that the transnational Muslim fighter and the al-Qaeda operative were different in their political preferences although they hailed from the same pan-Islamist ideology, with the Muslim fighter having a stronger popular support base, and concludes that undermining pan-Islamism and promotion of state nationalism or other local forms of identification were key to an effective counter-strategy.

Stand up and be counted

In the wake of India's election to the chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee and the impending elevation to the rotating Presidency in August the exceptional composition of the current UN Security Council, SHASHI THAROOR states that New Delhi had to significantly raise its game and take positions on matters that it had previously preferred to duck such as Sudan, Iran, Middle-East and North Korea. In an op-ed commentary for the Project Syndicate, "India at the UN High Table", he states that New Delhi had to augment its resources and expertise on diverse issues and New Delhi had an extraordinary opportunity to showcase its credentials as a major global player and aspirant to a permanent seat at the table.

China's long march to nuclear leadership

Scholars at the Institute of Energy Research analyze the expansion of Chinese nuclear power to state that minimal red tape, cheap financing, low-cost labor and access to western technology are helping propel China's push into the global nuclear marketplace. In an IER article, "China’s Nuclear Program: Fast and Relatively Inexpensive", they state that recent advances such as self-sufficiency in reactor design and mastery over new reprocessing technologies such as irradiating spent fuel could provide Beijing an edge in its quest of becoming a world leader in nuclear power.