National security is most often thought of in terms of political and military threats to the state—either from other states or geo-strategic alliances. Given such a framework, both the challenges as well as the responses have for long been viewed in terms of the military force or coercive ability of the adversary.
Events unfolding in today’s highly networked and globalised economies show the futility, and danger, of relying on such a simplistic template. Threats to national security are today multi-dimensional and call for a deeper study and understanding of a wide variety of factors to create a credible response mechanism.
Navigating the Near seeks to bridge this paradigm shift by studying non-traditional threats facing contemporary India. The study, with its sight on the next decade, evaluates how traditional threats confronting India are likely to be influenced in large measure by a range of factors and trends, both external and internal, that have, till now, remained on the fringes of security studies.
Sunjoy Joshi, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Wilson John, Lydia Powell & Samir Saran
After serving in the Government for over 25 years, Sunjoy Joshi took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service to follow his primary interests in energy and development studies. He is now Director of the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and has been speaking, writing and commenting regularly on development, energy and environment issues. He has co-edited a volume titled Climate Change and Sustainable Development.
Dr. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan is currently Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation. Dr. Rajagopalan joined ORF after a tenure of almost five years at the National Security Council Secretariat (2003-2007), where she was an Assistant Director. She has written extensively on US foreign and security policies, including Indo-US relations, US missile defence issues, military strategies of major Asian powers including China, US, Japan and Russia, ethnic conflicts and Sri Lanka. Her latest book is Uncertain Eagle: US Military Strategy in Asia.
Wilson John is Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation. He studies developments in South Asia, with special focus on Pakistan and terrorism. He has authored a dozen books and has written extensively in newspapers and magazines. His latest book is Caliphate’s Soldiers: Lashkar-e-Tayyeba’s Long War. He is currently leading a project on Strategic Assessment of South Asia.
Lydia Powell, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, has been with the Centre for Resources Management for over eight years working on policy issues in energy and climate change. Prior to joining ORF, Ms. Powell worked as a Manager/Senior Consultant in Norsk Hydro ASA, Norway’s largest industrial enterprise with core interest in fertilizers, oil & gas (now divested) and Aluminium. She was selected as Congressional Fellow at the East West Centre Washington to write a report on Oil in American Energy Policy: Searching for clues of Influence in December 2006.
Samir Saran is Senior Fellow and Vice President, Development & Outreach, at Observer Research Foundation. An Electrical Engineer by profession, he has a Masters in Media Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Some of his publications and projects cover issues concerning representation of Islam and radicalism; politics of climate change; and, the implications of the emergence of BRIC. Saran coordinates the BRIC Track II and think-tank initiatives for the Government of India within ORF.
Political Science
download catalogue
