With rising authoritarianism and a crisis of democracy, the world needs new ideas. Can India show the way? Weak minds discuss people; average minds discuss events; strong minds discuss ideas,” said Greek philosopher Socrates. People and events dominate public discourse because they matter to the bread and butter issues of the people. But then, as […]
Ram Madhav
Outlook | Abrogation Of Article 370 Has Strengthened Voices Of India In The Union Territory
It has been almost one year since Jammu and Kashmir lost the special status granted to it by Articles 370 and 35A. National general secretary of BJP Ram Madhav tells Bhavna Vij-Aurora that the abrogation of Article 370 has led to “strengthening of the voices of India” in the youngest Union territory. It has also exposed local political leaders […]
The Room Where it Happened – A White House Memoir
In the last four years, the Donald Trump administration in America has witnessed abrupt end of the careers of many high ranking officials. They either quit their coveted posts in the middle of their tenure, or dismissed uncermoneously, eitherway mostly under controversial circumstances. There were dozens of them, but some names stand out – like […]
Soft Power Struggles
Statues, Church, Mosque and a Temple – How underlying cultural tensions are leading to liberal dilemmas and geo-political conflicts. Joseph Nye, the American liberal political scientist, proposed his soft power theory in the 1980s believing that culture would be a non-coercive power to influence nations. Coming ten years after him, Samuel Huntington, a conservative political […]
As Chinese ambition expands, Delhi must turn towards PM Modi’s principle of ‘together we grow’
Proactive diplomacy together with greater attention to soft developmental needs of the neighbours like connectivity, education, finance and healthcare is the need of the hour for India’s foreign policy mandarins. There is a possibility of the immediate neighbours being inimical, while the neighbour of the neighbour, in the second circle, could be a friend. (File) […]
Religions and Society in China
Just completed this 9-week short-lecture course being offered by the National University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. It is an easy and interesting course for those who want to understand the religious history of China and how the atheist China government and the CCP deal with religion in contemporary China. One thing that strikes […]
Challenges to Global Governance
The challenge to global governance comes today from the decay of the very institutions created for that purpose some 75 years ago. This is the 75th year of the creation of the United Nations Organisation or UNO. The UN was the brainchild of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who first shared the idea with Winston […]
The Dalai Lama at 85
The many hurdles that His Holiness overcame to make India his home The tiny village of Shaoshan in the Hunan province of China is an important centrepiece of ‘Red Tourism’.Busloads of people flock to this birthplace of Mao Zedong to pay their respects to the ‘Great Helmsman’, whose 36-metrehigh statue adorns the village square. There […]
Indian Express | ‘India’s policy shift in last four-five years alerted China, Doklam was big jolt to them’
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav speaks to The Indian Express on the LAC showdown and India’s prospects in post-Covid world. You have been talking about India’s prospects of emerging as a global leader in the post-Covid era. How do you assess the scenario now? A lot of changes will take place in the global order post Covid. The […]
The People vs Democracy
Yascha Mounk’s book The People vs. Democracy is informative, but unconvincing. His arguments that present day democracies are posing a danger to the freedoms of the people sound hollow when examined carefully. Yascha’s arguments don’t sound logical also for the reason that he doesn’t hide his antipathy for nationalism and of course his dislike, bordering […]