The world has undergone major changes in the last few years. The post-World War II international order looks increasingly frayed and outdated. The US and China are simultaneously competitors and collaborators. The global strategic landscape is shifting, creating unknown and unpredictable security challenges for nations.
Even as old threats remain, new threats to societies have emerged from climate change, inequality, unemployment and extremism. Technology has become the new determinant and metric of national power. The distinction between internal and external threats has become blurred. The meaning of national security has changed. We need a holistic and integrated approach to deal with the contemporary world.
Adviser NatStrat, former National Security Advisor in Mauritius, retired IPS officer
Shantanu Mukharji was born in Allahabad on 23 September 1950. He lives and breathes expertise in security matters after a career of 45 years (and counting) as a specialist in policing and critical security assignments.
He joined the police service in 1976 and served with distinction in communally sensitive and trouble-prone districts of Uttar Pradesh. He was then deputed to the Ministry of External Affairs to strengthen the security of diplomatic missions abroad.
Dr Sweta Kumari is a Senior Research Fellow at NatStrat and an International Relations and Geopolitics Analyst specialising in US Studies, Indo-Pacific strategy, and India-US strategic relations. With over seven years of experience across think tanks, academia, and policy research institutions, her work focuses on Indian foreign policy, US foreign policy, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, US-China relations, trade and geoeconomics, emerging technologies, and strategic affairs.
Previously, she served as Assistant Professor of Defence and Strategic Studies at Rashtriya Raksha University, an Institution of National Importance under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
Siddhant Hira is a Senior Research Associate at NatStrat. He focuses on India-China relations; the Indian Ocean Region and the Indo-Pacific; India’s Special Forces, Intelligence and Foreign Policy; India’s neighbourhood; and the cognitive and information domain.
He co-edited the NatStratSpecial Feature The Indian Ocean and its Littorals, contrasting the relative inaction of the Chinese Navy against the Houthis in the Western Indian Ocean with a far more active Indian Navy deployment, as a case study of their respective responses.
Sourav Sinha is a Research Assistant at NatStrat, a Delhi-based foreign policy think tank. He did his Masters in International Relations from South Asian University, New Delhi. Sourav’s research interests include West Asia, middle powers and India’s neighbourhood, with a focus on regional geopolitics. His MA dissertation examined middle powers with a special focus on Türkiye and its role in contemporary international relations.
He can be reached at sourav.sinha@natstratindia.org
