Courtesy: Xinhua
A tiny nation of half a million people, Maldives has drawn enormous attention from the media, diplomats and informed public since Muizzu’s election last September. The interest has only risen after the recent diplomatic row with India and Muizzu’s increased bonhomie with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Courtesy: The Economist
After a year affected by a sustained polycrisis, global geopolitics in 2024 remains a delicate dance between hope and realism. Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza cast uncertain shadows, while Taiwan and the South China Sea present potential flashpoints. Indian diplomacy will have to navigate old and new challenges, while promoting India’s expertise in digital technology, as also managing its own upcoming parliamentary elections.
Courtesy: Gateway House
A sweep of democracies across the world are scheduled to hold general elections in 2024, including seven of the 10 most populous countries. India has an interest in several of these: its own national election and those in its immediate neighbourhood; in the G20, of which India is still part of the troika; and in BRICS-plus, where a new global game is afoot.
Courtesy: Revolutionary Communist Group
Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo region of neighbouring Guyana has focused world attention on yet another colonial-era border dispute. With elections coming up, the declining Venezuelan economy laying claim to newly-discovered rich oil and mineral deposits in Guyana has some traction. For Guyana, the claim to its land is non-negotiable as this developing country looks forward to accessing its own wealth. Purvi Patel, Visiting Fellow at Gateway House and Latin America expert, offers her insight.
Courtesy: Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung
India’s G20 presidency was effective in insulating the forum from geopolitical turbulence and placing the spotlight on the Global South. Although the G20 stands strengthened today due to India’s creative and forward-looking presidency, member nations confronting inter-state contestations, domestic elections and concurrent economic crises in the coming year will have to muster the political will to ensure a sustained commitment to the grouping's promises.
Courtesy: Scroll
From COP to COP, the discussions focus on climate change and its impacts. But none have yet addressed a critical issue: the definition of a “climate refugee” or climate-related forced migration. Some contend that the issue requires a revision in the 1951 Refugee Convention. But with refugee and migrant flows to the borders of Western democracies, the term “refugee” is often re-framed as a concern about preservation of culture and values.
Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal
Javier Milei defied expectations when he won the Presidential election in Argentina earlier this month. The public are looking for early and rapid results that will bring the economy back on a steady keel, even through radical reform. But sectors of the entitled old guard have already announced it will oppose any change in the status quo.
Courtesy: The Times of India
This year, India recovered over 100 stolen antiquities from different countries, part of 324 brought back to the country over the decade. This is part of an increasing global effort to tackle art trafficking. India can use the momentum to strengthen its own legal and policy mechanisms for accelerated recovery, restitution, and conservation of its cultural heritage.
Courtesy: CNBC
Prolonged violence between the military and opposition forces in Myanmar has eroded political stability in the country and led to large-scale displacement within the country. Despite diplomatic efforts led by ASEAN and other nations to find effective solutions, Myanmar’s on-ground situation appears unlikely to see any significant improvement in the near future.
Courtesy: Fox News
The decision to invite six countries — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — to join BRICS as full members has opened the grouping to a new geopolitical era. India can now play a seminal but challenging role in this evolved dynamic, given its growing cooperation with the West on the one hand and its active pursuit of the interests of the Global South on the other.