COMMENTARIES
  • Social Media and Conflict: An Analysis of the Rohingya Crisis
    Shanta-Maree Surendran    ·   28 May, 2013    ·    #3949    ·    Commentary    
    The Rohingya crisis continues and is spreading beyond Myanmar. Reports detail the flight of individuals and families, seeking asylum in neighbouring nations and further afar. Described as an ‘unwanted people’, no government leaders w...
  • China: The Dawn of the Drones
    Narayani Basu    ·   23 May, 2013    ·    #3948    ·    Commentary    
    In April this year, China considered, for the first time, using a drone strike in an attempt to kill a Myanmar drug-lord, wanted for the murder of 13 Chinese sailors. While the plan itself was abandoned, the very consideration of the use of a dr...
  • Myanmar and Cyclone Mahasen: Weathering Disasters in the Rakhine State
    Nayantara Shaunik    ·   23 May, 2013    ·    #3947    ·    Commentary    
    Even as Cyclone Mahasen made landfall on 16 May 2013 at Chittagong coast in Bangladesh, it missed the expected shift to the northeast toward Rakhine State in Myanmar. The Rakhine is home to approximately 140,000 Internally Displaced Pe...
  • Pakistan Elections 2013: On the Far Side
    Vijay Shankar    ·   23 May, 2013    ·    #3946    ·    Commentary    
    In the recent run-up to the general elections in Pakistan, one of India’s reputed TV channels hosted a panel discussion on its outcome. Strange was the readiness of the panellists to set aside the actualities of Pakistan’s situa...
  • Nuclear Security Summit: The North Korea-Iran Conundrum
    Somya Chhabra    ·   23 May, 2013    ·    #3945    ·    Commentary    
    With less than a year left for the third Nuclear Security Summit, to be held in The Hague in 2014, there is a need to revisit and re-examine its raison d’etre. The first summit was initiated by President Obama in Washington D.C. in 2010 to...
  • What next vis-a-vis China and Pakistan
    D Suba Chandran    ·   23 May, 2013    ·    #3944    ·    Commentary    
    The elections are over in Pakistan, and the political scenario in terms of the next government is clear. Nawaz Sharif is the new Prime Minister, and he has adequate support in the Parliament and is not heading an unstable coalition. The Prime Mi...
  • Nepal: Deciphering Prachanda’s “Trilateral” Strategy to Balance India and China
    Sohan Prasad Sha    ·   21 May, 2013    ·    #3943    ·    Commentary    
    Last month, Nepal's top Maoist leader made two widely reported trips to China and India in quick succession. The trips by Pushpa Kumar Dahal - better known by his nom de guerre Prachanda - sought to whip up support for his idea of a 'tri...
  • IPCS Discussion: Malaysia Elections 2013
    Asma Masood    ·   21 May, 2013    ·    #3942    ·    Commentary    
    Aparupa Bhattacherjee, Research Intern, SEARP, IPCS The Malaysia Elections took a surprising turn when Pakatan Rakayat (PR) was denied the victor’s crown despite gaining the majority in total votes. Barisan Nasional (BN) formed the ruling...
  • Bhutan: Democratically Challenged?
    Marian Gallenkamp    ·   21 May, 2013    ·    #3941    ·    Commentary    
    There are a number of analysts and activists who would strongly reject the question mark at the end of this commentary’s title, and instead replace it with an exclamation mark. Then there are others, whose romanticised vision of a last &ls...
  • Bhutan: Is Democracy a Reality?
    Kunkhen Dorji    ·   21 May, 2013    ·    #3940    ·    Commentary    
    According to the government of Bhutan, the first historical election on 24 March 2008 was a huge success, and democracy is on the right track in the Himalayan kingdom. But many are critical of such analyses and assert that it is a controlled dem...
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