Dec 5, 2023

David W. Kearn argues that deployment of nuclear weapons cannot rectify a perceived imbalance in conventional forces in the western Pacific.

Feb 10, 2024

Assaf Zoran argues that it is crucial to hold Iran accountable and convey the cost associated with arming, training, financing, and promoting violence through proxies.

May 11, 2022

When the U.S. military trains other states’ forces, it tries to impart liberal norms such as respect for human rights. But when liberal norms clash, these soldiers prioritize loyalty to their unit, the military, and shared goals.

Nov 2, 2022

U.S. power extends beyond the military and economic spheres to include policing. The United States has used its global policing power to capture terrorists, warlords, and drug kingpins. But extradition is not simply a bureaucratic tool. States’ geopolitical interests shape their willingness to cooperate with others in extraditing fugitives. 

Feb 28, 2023

Policymakers need to act now and place child welfare professionals, not law enforcement actors, at the border to effectively screen and interview migrant children. Information sharing practices need to be improved, with a movement away from paper documents that can easily get lost to an approach that is digital, secure, and accessible by the child, their guardian, their lawyer, and their doctor. Further, the enforcement processing facilities need to undergo an immediate infrastructural transformation with the addition of new design features that are necessary and sensitive to the majority demographic that are held within facilities—children and families.

These actions are doable and require no legislative action. Migrant children deserve decisive action to ensure that their health, safety, and well-being is not jeopardized as they seek refuge in the United States.

Aug 8, 2023

When states use moral language in a dispute, they reduce the possibility of compromise. The possibility of military escalation, meanwhile, rises in response to moral language when states’ domestic audiences accuse their governments of hypocrisy for their willingness to compromise. The Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas case explores the theory.

Dec 15, 2023

Calder Walton writes that if proved, Victor Manuel Rocha's espionage would place him among the longest-serving spies in modern times. Allowing him to operate as a spy in the senior echelons of the U.S. government for so long would represent a staggering U.S. security failure.

Mar 12, 2024

After a century of rebellion, South America experienced a rapid decline in revolts in the early 1900s. Historical narratives and an analysis of a comprehensive new dataset show that the decrease stemmed in large part from the expansion and professionalization of the region’s militaries, which were driven by an export boom and the threat of interstate conflict. 

The climate crisis has brought human ill-treatment of nature forcibly to our attention, though of course India’s environmental problems are by no means the product of global warming alone. The staggeringly high rates of air pollution in the cities of Northern India, the ongoing devastation of the Himalaya by carelessly planned roads and dams, the [...]

Last month I spent several stimulating days in Mizoram. I had some knowledge of the state’s political history, met numerous Mizos in the course of my life, but never visited the state before. I flew first to Guwahati, where I caught up with some old friends, gloried in my sightings of the Brahmaputra, and spoke [...]

In a June 11 meeting, Prime Minister Singh assured Under Secretary Burns of his strong personal commitment to strengthening further India's ties to the United States.

During a March 28 meeting with Assistant Secretary or South and Central Asian Affairs Boucher, Foreign Minister-designate Shah Mehmood Qureshi confirmed that the new government wanted to work with the U.S. to combat extremism, increase trade and extend cooperation with India and Afghanistan.

Zardari made repeated pleas for drones to be "put in Pakistan's hands" so that Pakistan would own the issue and drone attacks (including collateral damage) would not provoke anti-americanism.

President Musharraf also asked the U.S. to put more pressure on India to negotiate over Kashmir, concluding that the time is ripe for resolution of the issue.

Menon emphasized that India had been tough on Pakistan with regard to accountability, but restrained in its rhetoric and actions.

Benazir Bhutto claimed that the Sindh Government had informed her that if she goes to Larkhana (her ancestral home), she would be attacked.

Even with support from the government, serious threats against Bhutto will persist.

The estranged DMK M.P. spoke about party's corrupt image & predicted its downfall; criticised ‘freebies'; praised Rahul Gandhi; was ‘very downbeat' about United Progressive Alliance's electoral prospects

DMK Member of Parliament Dayanidhi Maran spoke candidly about India's current political scene.

Pakistan concern that freedom of expression be balanced with respect for religion as "we are not as advanced as you are" in terms of respect for freedom of religion and could not always control the reactions of sometimes ignorant crowds.

Pakistan's National Defense University's curriculum is designed to foster national pride, but many of its students and instructors have an anti-American bias.

UAEG officials pledged their cooperation on cases of mutual interest, but Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi noted his frustration with the USG over the frozen assets of A.Q. Khan's daughter, Dina Khan.

Pending post verification are claims that total $279 million for the March-May 2007 period. The areas of greatest concern to us include costs for helicopter operations ($83 million annually), radar maintenance ($65 million annually) and Joint Staff operations ($5 million annually).

Tarin requested that an additional $500 million of U.S. assistance flow through the GOP - in addition to the $174 million already committed - to bolster GOP credibility and allow the GOP to more adequately support its priorities.

Between August 2006 and July 2007, we received a claim for 26 million USD in barbed wire and pickets. While these items are no doubt helpful in protecting outposts, the claim figures are highly suspect.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has requested $1 billion in additional FMF support for the F-16 program

Because of production issues, missing the deadline could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs.

It is hard to exaggerate the effect the failure of the F-16 sale would have on U.S. relations with Pakistan and on our allies in the Pakistani military.

Cutting off the flow of funds to terrorist organizations and achieving stability in Af/Pak are top U.S. priorities.

Chinese officials had approached the Indian government for more information but had since been reportedly told by the Indian government that the information presented was sufficient to justify the listing.

While each side adhered to familiar positions, the chemistry between the principals was good and the dialogue was cordial and frank.

While the BJP-led NDA won resoundingly in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it has lost power in five major State assemblies since December 2018.

The average time spent on discussing a Bill dropped from 213 minutes in 2019 to 85 minutes in 2021

The AIADMK spent the highest share in spreading the party’s propaganda (99.5%) and relied only on media and advertisements

The Farm Laws Repeal Bill was discussed in the LS for two minutes - the joint second-lowest time for discussion of a bill since 2014

In FY21, national parties and regional parties received ₹427 crore and ₹264 crore worth of funds, respectively, from unknown sources

As leaders mull over who will head the party next, the Congress Working Committee announced that elections will be held on October 17.

The Data Point is a bi-weekly newsletter in which The Hindu’s Data team decodes the numbers behind today’s biggest stories.  

NOTA continues to be salient in Naxalite areas, but its share has fallen in recent elections

MLAs in Karnataka have on average assets worth ₹34.6 crore, the highest among all the States

The columnist puts the spotlight on India’s star female wrestlers who have accused Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of serial sexual harassment

As many as 3.32 crore voters will cast their votes in 37,809 polling stations across State

Jul 17, 2023

Apekshya Prasai, a political science doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was recently named a 2023 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Emerging Scholar.   The Emerging Scholars (nine in all) are doctoral candidates who are in the final year of writing dissertations on the nature of and responses to violence around the world.

Sep 21, 2023

Recent scholarship on Sino-Indian relations in the 1950s has emphasized cooperation, revising previous narratives of an inexorable march towards the 1962 border war. This article reassesses that cooperation by focusing on India's role as an intermediary between the unrecognized government in Beijing and the United Nations (UN). Chinese sources reveal that Sino-Indian cooperation over UN affairs was complicated by competing conceptions of how the decolonizing world should fit into the international system and who should be at the helm. Despite such disagreements, the Cold War UN provided a setting where divergent post-colonial visions could be sublimated into meaningful international cooperation.

Nov 16, 2023

This report, by Maxwell Simon (MPP '23) and Jayaram Ravi (MPP '23), explores the drivers of setback and success that China has encountered in the process of developing dual-use and military-dedicated naval installations abroad. It looks at cases where China has considered or actively pursued military-dedicated installations to characterize Beijing’s general approach to overseas naval base acquisition.

Nov 30, 2023

Joseph S. Nye writes that evaluating ethics in international relations is difficult, and Kissinger's legacy is particularly complex. Over his long tenure in government, he had many great successes, including with China and the Soviet Union and the Middle East. Kissinger also had major failures, including in how the Vietnam War ended. But on net, his legacy is positive. In a world haunted by the specter of nuclear war, his decisions made the international order more stable and safer.

Jun 30, 2022

The Learning Agenda is an unprecedented effort by the Department to institutionalize evidence-based learning and implement the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (“Evidence Act”). The Evidence Act requires federal agencies to develop a “learning agenda” – a systematic plan to answer a set of policy-relevant questions critical to achieving the agency’s strategic objectives. It will guide the Department’s efforts over the next four years across eight questions to increase the impact of U.S. foreign policy and bolster the Secretary of State’s modernization efforts.

This event featured a keynote address followed by a panel of foreign policy and evidence-building experts for a thoughtful discussion on addressing Learning Agenda Questions 1 and 2: How can the State Department improve the effectiveness of its diplomatic interventions to better advance foreign policy objectives? How can the Department improve the effectiveness and sustainability of its foreign assistance efforts?