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The Rise and Fall of Khoqand: Central Asia in the Global Age, 1709-1876. By Scott C. Levi, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017. 2017, 258pp.
Dr Pravesh Kumar Gupta, Associate Fellow, VIF

Until recently, a few books have been published on the history of Central Asian Khanates of Khiva, Bukhara, and Kokand. In his book, Levi C. Scott, a professor of Central Asian history at Ohio State University, focuses on the historical significance...

June 3, 2020
Central Asia, International Relations and Diplomacy
Tags: Central Asian history, Crimean War, Ferghana Valley, Khanate of Kokand, Russian forces
Great Game East: India, China and the Struggle for Asia’s Most Volatile Frontier by Bertil Linter, Publishers: Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2015
Dr Cchavi Vasisht

Arthur Conolly, an intelligence officer of British East India Company, conceived the expression “great game” to define the strategic rivalry between the British and the Russian empires to acquire supremacy in Central Asia. It was further used to...

May 26, 2020
China, International Relations and Diplomacy
Tags: British East India Company, China, Indian Subcontinent, Sino-India, Southeast Asia
What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat by Prof Louise Richardson, Publishers: Random House/New York, 2006, USD 25.95
Anurag Sharma, Associate Fellow, VIF

Professor Louise Richardson’s book “What Terrorists Want” is one of the primers on the study of terrorism. The book is organised in two parts— 1) The Terrorists, consists of five chapters and 2) The Counter terrorists which consists of remaining...

May 24, 2020
National Security and Strategic Studies, Terrorism
Tags: Irish Republican Army, LTTE, PLO, Social life, Terrorism
In The Name of the Nation: India and Its Northeast by Sanjib Baruah, Stanford University Press: Stanford, 2020, 297 pp, ISBN: 9781503610705
Dr Hirak Jyoti Das

In the Name of the Nation: India and its North East, authored by Sanjib Baruah interrogates the interaction of North East India with the territorial conceptions of the post colonial nation-state and state sovereignty. The North Eastern Region...

May 23, 2020
National Security and Strategic Studies
Tags: Assam, India and Its Northeast, Nation, North Eastern Region, Sanjib Baruah
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative Concept, Context and Assessment by Siegfried O. Wolf, Springer, Switzerland, 2020, £88, ISBN 978-3-030-16198
Aakriti Vinayak

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative that was officially launched in April 2015, promised to be a game changer. The economic corridor that would link Kashgar in Xinjiang to Gwadar in...

May 23, 2020
China, Neighbourhood Studies
Tags: Belt and Road Initiative, China, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, CPEC
In their Own Words-Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba by C. Christine Fair, Second Edition; By Christine Fair; India: Oxford University Press, 2019. 303pp. ISBN 10: 0-19-949521-1
Soumya Awasthi

The goal of every state is to survive. Many countries adopt various kinds of strategies to achieve their ends. The strategies are a mix of military, economic and diplomatic ways and means to realise their policy goals. However, in the case of...

May 20, 2020
National Security and Strategic Studies, Terrorism
Tags: C. Christine Fair, Lashkar, LeT, Understanding Lashkar
India’s Ocean- The story of India’s bid for regional leadership by David Brewster, New York: Routledge, 2014. pp228. ISBN- 978-0-415-52059-1
Amruta Karambelkar

Indian Ocean is of critical importance to India. The Indian peninsula juts out into the Indian Ocean. In fact, this is the only ocean in the world that is named after a country. The 21st century is a maritime century; therefore, the significance of...

May 19, 2020
Indo-Pacific, International Relations and Diplomacy
Tags: David Brewster, Indian Ocean, Indian perspective, Maritime century, Pakistan
A Lifetime of Moulding Technology and Science Policy in India: A Festschrift in Honour of Professor Ashok Parthasarathi, Editor: Sachin Chaturvedi, Academic Foundation, 2017, 128 pp, ISBN: 9789332703551, Price: Rs 795
Radhika Daga

Science and Technology (S&T) has assumed great salience in India’s development and security matrix. In last few years’ policy initiatives like Make-in-India, Start-up-India and Digital India Programme have further given an impetus to this...

May 15, 2020
Technological and Scientific Studies
Tags: Electronics, National S&T Archive, Science and Technology Policy, Self-reliance
This is the way World Ends : How Droughts and Die-offs, Heat Waves and Hurricanes Are Converging on America by Jeff Nesbit, Thomas Dunne Books, St Martin’s Publishing Group, 2018, United States, 336 pp, ISBN: 9781250160461, price-$29.99 (2,257.17 Rs)
Heena Samant, Research Associate, VIF

We all have heard of climate change and its impact now and of future time and again. So much so, that it has now become the new normal. But it doesn’t really get the mind space that it needs, for various reasons. Then comes a book like Jeff Nesbit'...

May 13, 2020
National Security and Strategic Studies, Climate Change
Tags: Earth’s ecosystem, Geopolitics, Impacts of climate change
From Third World to First -The Singapore Story: 1965-2000. First Edition. By Lee Kuan Yew. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000. 729 pp. ISBN 0-06-019776-5.
PK Khup Hangzo, Associate Fellow, VIF

Singapore has been called the 20th century’s “most successful development story” and is considered a model for economic development. Its stunning economic transformation has been described as a “miracle” and have been the subject of numerous...

May 12, 2020
International Relations and Diplomacy
Tags: 1965-2000, From Third World to First, Mr. Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore, Singapore’s independence
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