International Studies

Sectarian tensions in the West Asia have exacerbated with a new power and remain a vital factor influencing relations between Muslim states. In Persian Gulf, sectarianism as a tool used by states comes from Muslim fragmentation into Sunni and Shia branches and is expressed in a hostility towards the opposite group. In reality, this hostility is usually exploited by authoritarian states to reach their goals and interests at the expense of weak or failed states by meddling into their affairs. At the domestic level of the Arab Persian Gulf states, sectarianism is used to maintain domestic regime stability and control internal (Shia) opposition. States are convincing their own societies that Shiite demands and unrests pose a threat for the regime security so the state has a right and duty to undertake sophisticated measures to ensure order.

The aim of the article is to show the different dimensions of sectarianism in the Persian Gulf, both on an internal and external level. The article will show how the mechanism of using sectarianism for the state purposes works.

President George W. Bush regarded the war on terror he unleashed in Afghanistan and Iraq as a war of ideas just as it was a war of arms. With evangelical zeal and through his policy of regime change, he wanted to introduce Western-type liberal democracy in both countries but failed in the attempt. Though “democratically”-elected governments took office in Kabul and Baghdad, the American occupation was strongly resisted in both places, leading to the emergence of new insurgencies (Iraq) and the gradual regrouping of militants dislodged from power (Afghanistan). Not only did the United States under Bush fail to prevent Pakistan from aiding Afghan militants, it helped Shi’ite Iran in gaining an unprecedented foothold in the affairs of the new Shia-led dispensation in Iraq. George W. Bush’s surge for democracy through military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in a new wave of anti-Americanism in those regions and provided a fresh lease of life to Islamic fundamentalism. His crusade had indeed gone wrong.

West Asian region is known for the presence of the Arab oil-rich countries. In the post-Second World War, Arab–Israeli conflict was one of the major international issues of the world. This Arab–Israel region of the West Asia was under the British control. Britain failed to handle the conflict and handed it over to the newly formed United Nations (UN) and through the UN mediation, the state of Israel was created in 1948. All the major powers of the world got involved in one way or other in the process of creation of the state of Israel in the midst of the Arab countries. Canada as a member of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) became involved in the West Asian region.

In the post-Second World War period, Canada had virtually no commercial or strategic interests in any countries of the region. Now Canada works closely with its network of diplomatic missions across the region to promote and defend Canadian values and interests and strengthen development and trade cooperation with a range of government, private sector and civil society partners, as well as regional organizations. The West Asian region—the Arab countries and Israel—is one of the areas where merchandise trade as well as arms trade is a significant area of interest of Canada.

This article discusses Canada’s involvement in West Asia since the creation of the state of Israel. Canada supported Israel and their relations are multifaceted and have been enhanced in recent years through increased cooperation in several areas, including arms trade, investment and innovation. Canada has also many trade agreements including the arms trade to West Asian Arab countries. This article shows various issues of Canada and West Asia trade relations, particularly arms trade with Israel and other West Asia Arab countries, which has more of a political orientation rather than an economic one.

The West Asian region holds a critical position in the global hydrocarbon regime. The largest source of oil and huge natural gas reserves have made it a strategically sensitive region. The excessive presence of external powers, especially the United States which at one stage defined its national security in terms of secure oil supply from the region, has made the region a centre of competition and conflict. It is well documented that oil was one of the crucial motives behind the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein. It is the contention of this article that the Syrian crisis too can be explained in terms of competitive politics of global and regional powers, to possess regional hegemony and have control over energy resources.

Having looked at the changing global energy dynamics, the article evaluates the ongoing Syrian war, emphasizing that the crisis was significantly, if not primarily, due to the energy pipeline geopolitics and not confined to merely a regime change or a sectarian factor. In the years up to 2011, Syria was exporting more than 150,000 b/d of crude to the international market, which was not much but a sizeable fraction. The crisis has not just sent Syria’s energy sector into turmoil, but has also caused a serious humanitarian catastrophe. The article also underlines, how the recent finds in the East Mediterranean, especially offshore Syria, which are expected to be around 3,450 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels (bill. Bbls) of oil reserves, pose a serious competition for the Gulf.

The article is divided into four sections. It begins by underlining the changing energy geopolitics and identifying Syria in the East Mediterranean energy finds. The article then talks about the pipeline geopolitics and the Syrian crisis, which leads to the fourth aspect of the article discussing the regional and external actors, and their stake in the Syrian conflict.

Energy geopolitics, marked by competition and rivalry in the global search for petroleum fuels, has been one of the defining elements in the bilateral energy engagement of India and China. In the last decade, the international energy market witnessed fierce race among the two as they competed for overseas petroleum resources. Unlike the politics over the search for petroleum resources witnessed in the last decade, the new energy geopolitics reflects the competition of these two countries as they seek to expand their influence in the alternative energy sector of the developing Asian economies. Investment, technology transfer and aid to develop new energy resource are some of the key economic and diplomatic tools the two countries use to expand their reach. This article focuses on the Sino-Indian competition in the alternative energy space in developing Asia, and aims to understand the level of success the two countries witness in this emerging geopolitical engagement.

The geopolitical reshuffling and developments in the twenty-first century forced the countries in the Indo-Pacific region to understand and improvise their strategies. Continental power projection has considerably shifted to maritime prowess; especially so for both India and Australia. While India’s maritime interest is rather recent, Australia had not created a maritime mindset for nearly seven decades. The region of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans has gained central focus due to economic and strategic reasons with the interplay of non-traditional security issues like piracy and terrorism. The critique on maritime security became much more pronounced with China’s rise and visible aggression in South China Sea. India has been at the centre stage of these shifting balances and geopolitics of the region. Regionalism and cooperative and/or comprehensive security became the buzz words for Indo-Pacific. The study will focus on India’s maritime strategy and its convergence with Australia’s maritime strategy and the emerging relation between the two countries.

As the countries pass through the different stages of demographic transition in their process of development, a window of a demographic opportunity opens in the phase of rapidly declining infant mortality. The result is an increase in the share of young adults in the population leading to a ‘youth bulge’. This bulge is indicative of a large share of the working ages in the population which yield a demographic dividend and a low dependency ratio. The dividend, however, is transient. The lower fertility will eventually reduce the growth rate of this potential labour force along with mortality speeding the growth of elderly population. Thus, countries need to ensure timely implementation of effective policies to realize the dividend. In this background, this article attempts to study how economic growth of any country gets influenced by its demographic dividend. In this study, we have selected Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and the European Union to see this relationship between two variables economic growth and demographic dividend using fixed effect model covering a period of 1990–2015. The results from regression equation exhibit that relationship between GDP growth rate and demographic dividend is positive thus, validating our hypothesis that demographic dividend has a positive impact on economic growth.

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are viewed as extension of millennium development goals (MDGs) and a post-2015 agenda to fight against poverty and hunger, while protecting human rights of people and ensuring inclusive and sustainable development and healthy lives. It sounds simple but there are very complex international dynamics involved with evolution of MDGs and then SDGs. This review article examines the sociopolitical evidence base that served as motivation for MDGs to come and later on SDGs. The antecedents to the MDGs include some key summits of the 1990s which fed into many of the goals of MDGs. Then Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) came out with international development goals (IDGs). Then Clare Short (a member of the Labour Party) in the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Utstein group propelled the IDGs by securing support for them. The UN also came out with a set of development goals to be converted to MDGs. There were interactions between and within the UN and DAC to bring together one set of MDGs. Other big players were IMF and World Bank. There was huge criticism of MDGs for not being holistic as they left out certain social issues. Also there was a need for post-2015 agenda. As a result, SDGs came by the end of 2015. Even they could not escape criticism, and the article discusses few debates around them. At last, the article discusses potential challenges for SDGs, both at international level as well as national level with special emphasis on health-related SDGs.

Africa has vast reserves of natural resources, and it is a huge market for goods and services. The 54 African countries can have significant influence in various international forums. As such these have to be engaged by India in all possible dimensions and capacities to enhance bilateral relations and secure its interests. The soft power of military training is one such capacity that could be leveraged effectively by India. African continent has been witness to highest military professionalism, valour and sacrifice by Indian troops during various battles and peacekeeping missions on its soil dating since early twentieth century. It is these qualities that have led many an African nation to seek Indian assistance in training its military leadership. India is not only training military leadership but has also set up institutions of higher defence learning in many African countries. Yet another factor which finds greater attraction is the apolitical nature of Indian defence forces who have willingly accepted civilian supremacy in country’s governance. It could influence African military leadership to curb the tendency to take over governance, resolve internecine disputes and bring in peace and stability, a prerequisite for progress and prosperity of the African people.

In the contemporary era, the world has become integrated and multi-polar. In this process, many emerging economies and developing countries have shifted their economic interest from west to east and north to south. It has built the ‘rise of the south’ and expanding south–south economic collaboration, most importantly in trade and investment. India and Africa had cordial ties throughout the centuries; especially during the period of cold war era and in the fight against the colonialism and imperialism. During this period, both the regions have played an important role to protect and promote their mutual benefits. In this sphere, we can also see that the geographical state of affairs has played an important role to bridge the gap between the two regions. The contemporary period of liberalization, privatization and globalization has eliminated the boundary and space between the regions. In such a situation, it is significant to study the relations between the emerging economies—India as a ‘country’ and Africa as a ‘continent’ in terms of trade and investment. This article has tried to examine the nature of economic relations between the two regions and in this process, it has tried to track out the challenges and opportunities which are available in front of these two regions. This article has also evaluated the initiatives taken by both the regions.