Dr Happymon Jacob provides a comprehensive overview of India’s national security environment at the start of 2021. He seeks to posit COVID-19 as a larger national security concern and outlines intersecting strategic issues in the path of India’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
Looking at India-China strategic rivalry over the long-term through both military and economic prisms, he provides an incisive analysis of the Quad as a counterbalance to China. While he underlines the possibilities of Indo-Pacific as an alternative to Chinese hegemony, he also highlights its limitations. Finally, he argues for a more reconciliatory foreign policy approach within India’s South Asian neighbourhood.