Maldives-618x412 Courtesy: Dying Regime / Flickr
25 April 2019

A power change in Maldives

Maldives’ new president, Ibrahim Solih, has had two election wins in a span of six months – his own in September 2018 and his Maldivian Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the Majlis elections about three weeks ago. An analysis of what this win says about democratic politics in Maldives, improved relations with India and the complex equation it shares with China

32063194508_79ef867901_o Courtesy: MEA Flickr
13 December 2018

Maldives’ new balance

Maldives president Mohamed Solih comes to India this week, fresh from his election win and with a host of good intentions. His aim is to recast the bilateral and restore balance in Maldives’ external relations after the previous president’s China-centric leanings. Such a reversal may not emerge instantly

15maldives-master675 Courtesy: New York Times
15 February 2018

Maldives: the Quad’s first crisis

The crisis in the Maldives is a case study of Chinese investments undermining democratic institutions in smaller countries. It poses long term threats to India’s economic and political security. And almost overnight, it has turned the Indian Ocean into the Indo-Pacific

People’s SAARC: a valid agenda
24 November 2014

People’s SAARC: a valid agenda

Rajni Bakshi, Senior Gandhi Fellow, Gateway House reports from People’s SAARC, a motley gathering of NGO workers and members of the village communities they work with. PSAARC will compile a memorandum – a wish-list of demands and aspirations – on November 24 and present it to the heads of SAARC nations

Sustainable gardening Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
10 October 2014

The UN and sustainability

The UN and the global finance industry are making gradual but concerted efforts to align business interests and ecological sustainability. A growing number of companies are combining profit-making with social responsibility. There is still a long way to go, but the UN system has created useful mechanisms of change

Yameen Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs, India
3 January 2014

The Maldives: small gains

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen’s visit to India this week aims to repair ties, strained after the Maldives terminated a $500 million contract to the Bangalore-based infrastructure company, GMR. Yameen’s conciliatory stand stems from the need for international help, including India’s, to fix an economy in decline

abdulla yameen The President's Office Republic of Maldives Courtesy: The President's Office, Republic of Maldives
13 December 2013

Maldives: Stability after a storm?

The November 16 election of Abdulla Yameen as president of the Maldives may have ended the two-year long political turmoil, but for the country’s economy to recover Yameen must ensure the stability of his government. He also has to consolidate ties with India, and his visit here on December 23 will be a start

Maldives wikimediaCommons Courtesy: WikimediaCommons
15 November 2013

Testing times for the Maldives

The ongoing political crisis in the Maldives has deteriorated after a run-off election on November 10 was delayed. Now, the next election is scheduled to be held on November 16. However, despite four scheduled elections in the last two months, chances are slim that stability will return soon to the Maldives