The Strategos

Altaf Azam The writer is a post-grad student at Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi   I.                Introduction    When cities around the world are experiencing an eerie desolation induced by state-imposed lockdowns, there is a frantic slump prevailing in the global oil markets. On Monday, the 20th of April, 2020, an empty barrel of crude oil was worth much more than a barrel full, as Oil traded at a historic low of -37 $ a barrel at the WTI. However, from India’s perspective, the majority of its crude basket represents oil from Oman/ Dubai axis which is based on Brent crude benchmark prices, which too sank to a two-decade low of just under 16 $ a barrel, but well above the WTI [i] . A historic low in oil prices is nothing short of a celebration for the 3rd largest consumer of Oil with over 80% reliance on oil imports for its petroleum needs [ii] . However, the grou...

The term Middle East originated in British India offices in 1850s and became famous after US Naval strategist Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan started using the term in his research papers. As of now, Middle East is used interchangeably with Near East. The term is said to have originated because of the region’s distance from the European cities of London and Paris. From an Asian perspective, however, it is the region located on the Western periphery of the continent. It also includes the states in the Northern belt of the African Continent. The term ‘broader middle east’ gained ground after the 9/11 attack to add the territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Middle Eastern framework. Middle East has been home to the cradle of civilizations, the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations developed in this very region on the banks of mighty rivers such as Nile, Tigris and Euphrates. It is also the birth place of three of the most prominent religions followed around the world namely Ch...

Kenneth Waltz in his book, “ Theory of International Politics ” showed how reductionist theories fail in describing the international politics. How states as units have little influence over what transpires in world politics. Waltz instead proposed a systemic theory and explained how the international structure is wired to create a self-help mechanism. In his systemic approach, Waltz takes a realist world view and finds global order to be ‘anarchic’. Waltz describes world order in terms of ordering principles, hierarchies and capabilities. On the other hand, Alexander Wendt takes middle ground in building his constructivist approach. While he agrees on the absence of any central governing authority leading to ‘anarchy’ in the international order, Wendt differs on how Anarchy unfolds. Instead of taking an essentially self-help view, he argues “ Anarchy is what states make of it ”. For him, all international politics sprouts from social interactions among states. Kenneth Walt...

“Child care options, internet access and extra living space leave a gulf between rich and poor in coping with disruptions to school and work.” (NYT).  T here is a general agreement that the standard of living has improved world over in the last century. Arguably, Capitalism has brought millions out of poverty and continues to do so. The agreement takes root from the fact that; in the pre-industrial world, vast majority of the human species lived at subsistence level. Industrialization has led to prosperity and well-being which are evident in the improved standard of living around the world. However, the capitalist forces draw flak from a variety of critics. Among them, Marxists make the most promising arguments, delving deep into the problems the present day capitalist world order faces. Marxists argue; the prosperity gained out of the industrial revolution has not been distributed ‘legitimately’. The statement from NYT mentioned above directs our attention towards a numbe...

The Ottoman Empire, at its zenith spanned across three continents namely Asia, Africa and Europe. The Ottomans controlled the Mediterranean waters and the lands on its periphery including Spain on the west and modern day Turkey on the East. The name ‘Ottoman’ has its history in the founder of the dynasty, Osman 1, ‘Ottoman’ being the anglicized version of Osman. The Ottomans established themselves formally as an empire with the fall of the Byzantine capital Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, in 1453. Now, to me, The City of Istanbul attracts. I am not sure about the source of that attraction but I believe the history and the culture of the city play a significant part substantiating that attraction apart from Bollywood’s portrayal of the city. Istanbul has a very special geographical status in terms of the modern day nation-state arrangement of territories across continents. The city cannot be discussed in isolation with the Ottoman Empire and its history. The story of the...

India and Pakistan have more in common than any other pair of nations in the world. Not only do they speak the same languages, practice similar cultures and customs, cook identical cuisines but also share the same legacy of British imperialism which lasted around 200 years. It is for the common cultural legacy that Bollywood is as famous in Pakistan as Pakistani daily soaps in India. With all these pleasent similarities, there is yet another one which is anything but pleasing. Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons and given the status of the bitter relationship between the two countries, situation can take really ugly turns. It is essential to mention these commons among the two countries as we analyze Indo-Pak relationship through the Constructivist lens but before we do that it will be helpful to understand it from other perspectives. For example, A realist will argue in terms of number of weapons India and Pakistan operate to bring down each other. They will speak of...