International Relations

Authors : Subhash Gill , Sneha Gupta

ABSTRACT

The current study examines how the Indo-Pacific architecture is perceived by India and China and how these visions shape economic and diplomatic relations in the region. The study asks how India’s and China’s competing visions of the Indo-Pacific shape their economic and diplomatic engagement with regional actors, particularly ASEAN. The paper argues that Chinese and Indian strategic principles and diplomatic approaches regarding regional dynamics are necessary contexts for understanding the economic and political policies pursued through regional institutional frameworks. It demonstrates that China primarily frames the Indo-Pacific through economic connectivity and regional multipolarity, while India increasingly approaches the region through strategic balancing, maritime security and diversified economic partnerships. Previous research papers in the field mostly examined these dynamics from a one-country perspective, treating economic and political dimensions mostly separately; however, this paper aims to provide a comparative understanding of two visions represented by Indo-Pacific dominant players based on their official statements and bilateral and multilateral initiatives. This methodological approach facilitates the understanding of recent institutional crises in renewed India-China dialogues and possible diplomatic resolutions based on analysis of key state principles pursued by both sides to achieve stable maritime security and economic cooperation.

KEYWORDS:
Indo-Pacific, maritime security, economic cooperation, India, China, ASEAN

Authors : Pragati Khanna , Harsh Dixit , Jannet Emma Tonateni Fransisco , Varsha Dhio Dora , Trisha Dev

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence has fundamentally changed the modern digital operation, whereby creating a constant struggle between what is perceived to be true and the human reality. This study uses a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study using secondary data from academic journals, policy documents and institutional reports to examine the interaction between crowdsourced Open-Sourced Intelligence (OSINT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven propaganda in modern warfare, alongside the global governance challenges that arise from their interaction. Findings reveal that there is a serious tension within the digital information ecosystem: whilst generative Artificial Intelligence promotes public opinions to spread disinformation and misinformation that is persuasive and may manipulate political processes, crowdsourced intelligence offers real-time verification and transparency. There are Regulatory Frameworks such as the European Union’s AI Act and Digital Services Act that serve as blueprints to counter AI-driven manipulation from technical solutions to the adoption of human-centered governance models. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that it is important to maintain digital information integrity by balancing computational tools with collaborative human verification to foster resilience against any revolving threats in digital security and global governance.

Keywords :
Artificial Intelligence, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), Crowdsourced Verification, AI-Driven Propaganda, Digital Warfare, Global Governance, Disinformation, Epistemic Sovereignty.

Authors : Nandiinii Gupta , Aanvi Kapoor , Bhumi Goyal , Khushal Goel , Lumbini Anand , Venika Sai Talluri

ABSTRACT

The Galwan Valley clash in June 2020 changed the way India and China saw each other. It began as a military clash along the Line of Actual Control, but its effects went beyond that of a border conflict. It changed how both countries talked about security, how they built their narratives, and how they acted toward one another. This study analyses this shift through the lens of power, rhetoric and perception. It aims to understand how China’s image as a threat changed within India’s foreign policy after Galwan. In order to provide a clearer picture, the study compares Galwan to the 2017 Doklam standoff. It draws on public statements, official press releases, and parliamentary records from both India and China, examining them for shifts in tone, recurring themes, and how each country described the other’s intentions. The findings show that both India and China constructed threats by blaming the other side’s intentions. Each used existing bilateral agreements selectively, framing them in ways that supported its own position. Both also pointed to the other’s infrastructure projects as evidence of an attempt to alter the existing situation on the ground. One key difference between the two crises lies in how they ended. Doklam was resolved through diplomatic talks, and both sides were able to present the outcome as a success. Galwan did not end this way. It led instead to a prolonged military stand-off, in which the confidence-building measures that had once been trusted lost their credibility rather than restoring it. Drawing on Walt’s Balance of Threat Theory, the study argues that the shift in India’s perception of China after Galwan was greater than what military economic changes alone could explain. This suggests that perception, shaped by narrative and rhetoric, played a role as significant as material capability itself. Briefly, the shift in India’s view of China was not just about power. It was about how India and China told stories about each other, and how those stories reshaped the way India came to see China as a threat.

KEYWORDS:
Indo-China relations, Galwan Crisis, Threat Construction, Balance of Threat Theory, Strategic Rhetoric, Realism, Line of Actual Control (LAC), Narrative and Perception

Authors : Mpilontle Mbambo , Dhanvi Sharma , Vanshika Lodhi , Sampurna Bhowmik

Abstract

Export controls are increasingly central to U.S.-China economic competition. This article compares U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductors and semiconductor-manufacturing capabilities with China’s controls on selected critical minerals, rare-earth elements, magnets, and related technologies between October 2022 and June 2026. It distinguishes three forms of strategic leverage: denial, bargaining, and informational leverage. Drawing on weaponisedinterdependence theory, the analysis examines regulatory design, implementation, disruption, and adaptation. The comparison suggests that U.S. controls can slow frontier capability accumulation but depend heavily on allied coordination, while Chinese controls can generate faster supply disruption but also stronger incentives for diversification. In both cases, leverage is conditional on administrative capacity, coalition cohesion, substitutability, and the speed of network escape.

Keywords:
weaponised interdependence; semiconductors; critical minerals; rare earths; export controls; geoeconomics; United States-China rivalry; supply-chain security; economic statecraft

Authors : Shruti Agarwal, Harshika Pandla, Mokshadaa Gupta, Revanth Netha, Vanshika Kakkar

Abstract :

This paper explores how maritime rivalry, coalition-building, and regional governance in the Indo-Pacific region are being reshaped due to ongoing competition between the United States and China. Instead of framing this as a simple replay of Cold War bloc politics, the study treats the region as an arena where states adjust their positions through overlapping alliances, minilateral arrangements, and strategic narratives rather than direct military confrontation. Empirically, the analysis follows three main strands: the indirect influence of the RussiaUkraine war on the region’s maritime strategy, the shift in India-China rivalry from land borders to sea lanes, and the formation of AUKUS and the Quad as key coalitions in regional security politics. Drawing on policy reports and academic studies, the paper uses interpretative discourse analysis to read how governments and experts deploy ideas of stability, rules and order to justify changing maritime postures and new forms of strategic cooperation.

Key Words :
Maritime Cooperation, Hegemony, Balance of power, Strategic Cooperation, QUAD, AUKUS, Freedom of Navigation (FON)

Authors : Umrah Fatima, Manya Saraf

Abstract :

This research paper seeks to examine the serious economic implications of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Iran conflict in comparison, concentrating particularly on their disruptive consequences for global economic activities. However, while most of the extant literature studies the above mentioned geopolitical situations separately, the current paper attempts to bridge a major research gap by comparing them in one single frame of reference. Using the qualitative approach based on the thematic analysis of secondary data
from international sources, the paper reveals that regional tensions result in extensive economic instability in our highly interconnected world. Notable observations suggest that both the disputes have caused serious fluctuations in energy prices, congestion of the seas atnkey strategic chokepoints, and inflationary pressure across the globe. Moreover, it is important to note that the analysis highlights the significant vulnerability of the Global South, where dependency on food, fuel, and raw materials from other countries has made their
currencies devalue and made them vulnerable to food shortages and debt repayment burdens.

Keywords:
Geopolitical Conflicts, Global Economy, Russia-Ukraine War, Israel-Iran Conflict, Energy Market, Supply Chain Disruptions, Inflationary Pressures, International Trade Global South, Interdependence.

Authors : Aaditya Dewansh, Huny Thakkar, Edward Mbeleki, Mansha Arya, Zinte Kula

Abstract :

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by China in 2013, has generated sustained debate over whether it functions as a deliberate instrument of debt diplomacy aimed at strategic asset acquisition, or as a development financing mechanism responding to genuine infrastructure deficits in recipient countries. This paper addresses that question through a comparative case study of Sri Lanka and Pakistan: two BRI-engaged South Asian states that share the same creditor yet exhibit structurally distinct outcomes. Drawing on a three-tier qualitative methodology combining comparative case analysis, historical examination of high-value BRI projects, and content analysis of “debt-trap diplomacy” discourse, we argue that strategic dependency in both cases emerges not from engineered default, but through two distinct pathways: fiscal vulnerability in Sri Lanka and infrastructural entrenchment in Pakistan. In Sri Lanka, domestic governance failures and aggressive external commercial borrowing produced the conditions for the 2017 Hambantota Port concession, driven by a new government’s fiscal desperation rather than predatory Chinese design. In
Pakistan, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) generated long-term institutional lock-in through the sheer scale of energy infrastructure investment and an asymmetric bureaucratic coordination model. Across both cases, local political elites exercised agency in seeking Chinese capital to bypass Western conditionalities, and dependency emerged as a by-product of borrower governance failures and project scale rather than Chinese strategic calculation. These findings challenge the binary of debt diplomacy versus development financing, offering instead a mechanism-based account of how BRI engagement produces different forms of strategic influence in different political-economic contexts.

Keywords:
Belt and Road Initiative, debt diplomacy, strategic dependency, fiscal
vulnerability, infrastructure entrenchment

Authors : Hridoy Pran Sarma , Ashi Agrawal

Abstract :

In the modern-day world, war is not only about fighting on the battlefield but also
manipulating the belief of the opponent country using intelligence. During war escalation, people form opinions based not on their personal experience, but from news stories and government releases, along with other posts on social media. As a result, they become more susceptible to misperceptions; these are misconstrued situations employed to frighten, sow discord and garner the unthinking support of the public for the providing of military firepower. Due to an increase in the use of social media and modern means of communication, this task has become even easier as not everyone is well-equipped to measure what is happening during wars. Misconceived observations of the conflict can aggravate and harm the process of resolution. The paper seeks to ascertain the role of the government and media in distorting the public opinion during wars by analysing case studies such as Russia – Ukraine War and other major wars worldwide. Usage of management perceptions, misinformation, and the war in which does escalate.

Keywords:
  Perception Management, Misinformation, War Escalation, Public Opinion, Media Literacy, Information Warfare.

Authors : Gayatri Gaikwad , Mehak Bhutani , Amina Dossa, Shalini Sarkar, Zainab Amjad

Abstract :


Generation Z the cohort born between approximately 1997 and 2012 has emerged as the most digitally mobilised generation in political history, leveraging platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X and Discord to organise transnational advocacy and challenge entrenched governance structures. Yet a critical paradox persists ,the generation that trends globally rarely transforms diplomatically. This paper examines the relationship between Generation Z’s social media activism and its tangible impact on international relations, arguing that while digital activism has democratised political expression and produced measurable domestic disruptions, its structural conversion into lasting diplomatic outcomes remains limited and uneven. Drawing on comparative case studies alongside empirical evidence from quantitative platform studies and theoretical frameworks of soft power, generational theory, and networked social movements, this paper identifies the conditions under which digital youth activism does and does not translate into diplomatic recalibration. It further interrogates platform architecture, disinformation dynamics, and the mobilisation-distraction paradox as structural constraints on Gen Z’s diplomatic agency. The findings suggest that while Generation Z constitutes a genuinely novel geopolitical force, the efficacy of their digital activism in reshaping international relations depends critically on context, institutional responsiveness, and the capacity to bridge online momentum with sustained offline institutional engagement.

Keywords –
Gen z, Diplomacy , Social Media ,Digitalisation