NMD and this issue
Shortly after our last issue went online,
the Government of India enunciated its clearest endorsement yet of the view that
international security has undergone a fundamental transformation. In welcoming President
Bush's decision last May to re-orient American security policy away from the straight
jacket of Cold War logic and drastically reduce the size of United State's nuclear
arsenal, the Ministry of External Affairs implicitly endorsed the need for missile
defense. The NMD debate had caught up with India. Indeed the Government's warm reception
of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and its receptiveness to American
concerns marks an important departure from its position of a year earlier. Arguably, the
NMD debate is the driving force behind recent realignments in the international system,
this includes the emergence of new players like China and India, the the strategic
irrelevance of older powers such as the United Kingdom and France. In this issue three
analysts try to make sense of its implications at various levels within the international
system. Amit Gupta, Anupam Srivastava and Kaushal Vepa analyze the impact of the NMD on
security policy at the regional (Asia) sub-regional (South Asia) and national (India)
levels respectively.
The assassination of the Nepalese royalty
marks the end of an era for that country. We offer our sincere condolences to the members
of family and to the people of Nepal. Apart from the great loss to the people of Nepal,
the tragedy has important geo-political implications. Domestic upheavals aside, the
assassination presents a serious challenge to Indian diplomacy. Laxman Bahroo incisive
article analyzes the domestic and international fallout of this tumultuous event. The
contents for this issue were decided well before the Agra Summit of 14 July 2001, and we
felt that it was too premature to offer any in-depth commentary or analysis of the talks.
Therefore our following issue will focus on India-Pakistan relations. We do, however,
offer a perspective on the outcome in the following article.
The publication of this issue marks the third anniversary of the new BR
Monitor and we would like to thank our contributors and our readers who make each issue
possible.
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