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| Archive of Events |
Public Lecture
The Obama Administration: New Faces, Debates and Trends in US
Foreign Policy
October 15, 2009
"The Obama
Administration is continuing the Bush Administration’s focus on a
good relationship with India, as well as China, in recognition of
the shift in economic dynamics toward Asia." noted Dr. Rodney
Jones, who is a Program Officer for USIP, Washington DC. Talking at
a Public Lecture titled "The Obama Administration: New Faces, Debates and Trends in the
Role of Military and Militancy in Sri Lanka and Implications for
India
July 7, 2009
Lt.
Gen. (Retd.) V. R. Raghavan, President CSA, recently made a
presentation on the “Role of Military and Militancy in Sri Lanka and
Implications for India” at a seminar titled
“Post-War Sri Lanka and India’s Role” organised by the
Observer Research Foundation-Chennai
Chapter
in association with the Department of International Studies, Stella
Maris College (Autonomous) on July 7, 2009 in Chennai.
As
a professional soldier,
Gen
Raghavan expressed his admiration for the short span of time in
which the Sri Lankan Army had expanded considerably and trained in
professionalism and leadership to enable it to take on one of the
most well organized and trained guerrilla forces in the world. With
the help of map slides, he highlighted the deployment of a number of
divisions and task forces that led to winning the war. He also gave
his assessment of the future deployment of army in various garrisons
to ensure security.
Gen. Raghavan noted that the army’s role in the war could now lead
it to be an important power centre in national decision making. He
raised caution over the huge costs of maintaining
a huge army and concluded with a note on the
future of
civil-military relations
in Sri Lanka.
The
seminar was attended by the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka for
South Asia Regional Security : Perspectives from Washington D.C
19 June 2009
“The
cooperative instinct and defense relations between India and the US
are far greater than they were ever before” said Prof. James Clad at
a Roundtable Discussion at CSA on June 19, 2009. Speaking on “South
Asian Regional Security: Perspectives from Washington D.C”, Prof.
Clad spoke at length about US-India relations. He noted that
engaging India and improving US- India relations is a left over
business from the Cold War period and there is a lot of ‘catch up’
that is waiting to be done. “The precautionary note for the US, as
this relationship broadens is to respect the truly democratic nature
of decision making in India”. He urged that US decision makers
should not just concentrate on perspectives from South Block but
also interact with officials, politicians, academics and scholars
from other regions of the country. In the interactions that led to a
candid discussion on US military aid to Pakistan and its policy
towards Afghanistan.
Prof. Clad noted that the
rise of china’s influence and its broadly successful diplomacy was
of great interest not only to the US but also to countries in the
Southeast Asia and Australia. The discussions then veered towards
Iran, North Korea and Sri Lanka.
16 April 2009
President of CSA, Lt. Gen. (Retd) V. R.
Raghavan, Advisor to the International Commission on Nuclear
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament was invited for a Conference by
the Scottish Parliament at
Upgrading International Studies in India
25-26 March 2009
Dr. W. Lawrence. S. Prabhakar participated in
an International Workshop on
Upgrading International Studies in India on 25-26 March 2009 in
March 2009
The Centre for Security Analysis is one of the
two think tanks from
This Regional Network of Strategic Studies
Centers has set up four working groups, viz,
- Combating Terrorism
- WMD and Border Security
- Democratization and Governance
- Non-Traditional Security
The CSA is represented by Dr. Geeta Madhavan.
Dr. W. Lawrence. S. Prabhakar, Mr. K. V. Krishnaswamy and Brig. (Retd)
K. Srinivasan respectively in these working groups.
Two working groups, on Combating Terrorism and
WMD and Border Security met in
Dr. Geeta Madhavan (extreme left) with other members of the working
group on Combating Terrorism
The abstract of Dr. Lawrence Prabhakar’s
presentation on India’s Stakeholdership in Nuclear
Nonproliferation: Issues and Perspective
can be accessed
here.
Another
In June 2008, Dr. Geeta Madhavan presented a paper on Regional Cooperation and Legal Issues at a Joint seminar on Terrorism in South and Southeast Asia in the Coming Decade organized by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and CSA at Singapore. The article was first published in Terrorism in South and Southeast Asia in the Coming Decade edited by Daljit Singh (2009) and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the publisher, ISEAS, Singapore
To read more from Dr. Madhavan visit our Articles page.
Also read an article "Guide to Safer India" by Brig.(Retd) K. Srinivasan, Establishment Director, CSA published in the Mumbai based magazine One India One People. The article is reproduced here with the kind permission of the publishers.
Emerging Challenges to Energy Security in the Asia Pacific
March 16-17, 2009
The
financial crisis has temporarily slowed the pace of economic growth
and development in much of Asia, but it has not fundamentally
altered projections for Asia’s future energy needs. Long-term energy
demand growth for the region is expected to surpass its own
installed capacity. Eventually the region will be the dominant
consumer of the world’s energy supplies. The Asia-Pacific region,
led by China and India, will represent the world’s largest energy
market in the next decade. The current energy mix in the region is
determined by balancing its endowment of energy resources with
policies which encourage diversification of supply, development of
strategic reserves, ongoing research for new domestic sources and
new commercial approaches to overcoming constraints. Given
Asia’s prevailing energy consumption patterns, understanding the
structure of its energy mix today and for the future is a useful
basis from which to assess strategic considerations regarding energy
security. Given this scenario, the Centre for Security Analysis in
collaboration with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies,
Singapore organized an International Seminar “Emerging Challenges to
Energy Security in the Asia Pacific” on 16-17 March 2009. The themes
addressed at the seminar included the global trends of energy
consumption, geopolitics of energy security, supply chain security,
and the potential for alternative sources of energy including
nuclear energy in the region. The participants included experts from
the academia, policy consultants as well as the energy industry. The
proceedings of the seminar will be published shortly as an edited
volume. Click
here
to access the programme, biodata of speakers and abstracts of
papers.
India as a Superpower
February 27, 2009
CSA organised
a Guest Lecture by Mr. M. R. Sivaraman, Former
Executive Director, International Monetary Fund on the subject
"India as Superpower". Mr. Sivaraman outlined the features of
a superpower and quoted Prof. Alice Lymen Miller's definition
of a superpower as a country that has the capability to project
dominating power and influence anywhere in the world and sometimes
in more than one region of the
globe at the same time. It has four axes namely, military,
political, economic and cultural. Mr. Sivaraman then dwelled upon
the need for a superpower in an economically interdependent world.
Laying this background to the concept of a superpower, he then
discussed where India stands as a superpower. He noted that
India has a long way to go before it could claim being a superpower.
In explaining this point he drew examples from India's power sector,
its literary standards, health and sanitation conditions, the
position of its military as well as its defence expenditure in
comparison to other countries. He then noted that India should be
very clear about its long term goals and suggested the ways and
means by which India can be an important player in the international
scenario and command respect in the comity of nations. Click
here to
view his Powerpoint presentation.
Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament
February 2, 2009
Deterrence and Disarmament have been two separate discourses and
seemingly contradictory themes. While deterrence was the voice of
the powerful, disarmament was considered as the voice of the weak.
For many decades it was believed that disarmament reduced the
deterrence capability. But today, the phrase 'disarmament' is
regaining in resonance. In the 21st century, although the
challenge of a strategic confrontation between powers of the world
remains, there is no question of nuclear confrontation. There is a
realization that deterrence based purely on nuclear weapons will not
produce desired results in the face of the challenge posed by
non-state actors. How is this resonance of disarmament affecting
deterrence? How is disarmament itself gaining importance? Is it the
weakening of deterrence that has led to the resonance of
disarmament? Can the two seemingly contradictory themes of
disarmament and deterrence go together or is it an ‘either-or’
situation? The Centre for Security Analysis organized a panel
discussion on Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament on 2nd
February 2009 to explain the relationship between disarmament and
deterrence. The proceedings of the panel
discussion can be accessed
here.