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Russo-American Engagement in Ukraine: Geopolitics at Work
--Ramakrushna Pradhan
Undeniably, the post-Soviet space in the recent years has become the staging ground for ambitious power play for establishing regional supremacy and global hegemony between Moscow and Washington. Russia, while determined to reestablish Kremlin’s great power status by reasserting its regional hegemony by keeping out the US behind the redline, Washington endeavors to establish its global supremacy by containing Russia in its own backyard through its own networks. After Georgia in 2008, the recent victim of this geopolitical engagement between Moscow and Washington is Ukraine. The intensive worldwide discussion and debate over Ukraine crisis over the last several months speaks about the aggravation of position between Russia and the west, particularly the US, in the geopolitical space of Kiev. Yet, the taproot of the Ukraine crisis goes far beyond Kiev and Crimea. The NATO enlargement in Eastern Europe; staging of movements like Orange, Tulip and Color revolutions; construction of alternative gas pipeline to undermine Russian monopoly over the control and administration of gas lines; and resurgent Russia under Putin’s leadership with an intent to reinstate Russian hegemony in and around the post-Soviet space for all practical purposes have been the central elements of discord between Russia and the west where Ukraine plays just a role of catalyst. Against this background, this paper makes a modest attempt to understand Ukraine crisis from a geopolitical perspective. It endeavors to analyze the nature of reengagement of Russia and the US in the geostrategic belt of former Soviet Union. The study looks into the Russian strategies to reassert its influence in the near abroad. Besides, the US policy towards the former republics of the Soviet Union in order to ease the Russian overpresence in the region is also studied minutely. Finally, the paper proposes how Ukraine is not a victim and instead a catalyst in the game played out in eastern Europe and warns about the far-reaching consequences it will have for the regional order. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Role of India in Regionalism:
SAARC, ASEAN, EU, BIMSTEC, IOR-ARC, and MGC:
Lessons for Nigeria in the ECOWAS
--Sharkdam Wapmuk
The paper examines India’s role in regionalism. Even though India’s closest regional setting is within the subcontinent of Asia and its vehicle of regional integration is the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), it has not hesitated to actively engage and/or take advantage of opportunities in successful regionalisms such as Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Union (EU) and in subregional structures such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIM-STEC), the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC). Since the end of the Cold War and following its economic reforms, India has stepped up its relations with these regional and subregional organizations and their member countries with the aim of strengthening economic growth through better trade and investment links, security and stability, and most importantly with a view to increasing its global standing. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for Nigeria from the Indian experience of regionalism. The lessons are even more imperative against the backdrop of Nigeria’s recent emergence as the largest economy in Africa and its quest to join the top 20 largest economies in the world in line with its vision 2020. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Migration Gain: When Migration Means Innovation
--Pierpaolo Giannoccolo
The role played by skilled migrants in strengthening the competitiveness in the destination economy is relevant in the European debate. This paper analyzes the special link between migration and innovation by exploring the role of skilled migrants in the innovation process. More deeply, it introduces several results provided by the literature which help to describe and understand this phenomenon. Thus, the paper defines the existence of ‘migration gain’ for the innovation process of the destination countries and introduces the ‘Brain Competition’. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Control the Oil, Rule the World: The Energy Games Nations Play
--Anshuman Gupta and Surbhi Arora
Currently, it is a fact that many of the world’s leading oil producing countries are either politically unstable or are at serious odds with the USA. In the past, a country’s military was the sole arbiter of her strength, but today it is the economy that has become nearly as important and all industrial economies and militaries both run on oil and gas. The current world financial turmoil has created more insecurities than ever before. This paper focuses on the current geopolitical issues underlying the oil supply in the world. The US and China desire those resources to fuel their power plants, factories, automobiles, aircraft, and armored vehicles. Iran and Russia want the pipelines to go through their territory in order to claim transit fees and use the resources as political tools. The recent political development in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and other small Arab nations has given another twist to the old geopolitics in the region. This paper analyzes the factors that make and break international relations between countries with regard to oil supply. In this context, the paper also examines the position of India vis-à-vis the changing scenario in the geopolitics of the world. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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