GS2 International Relations: The Strategic Path

This module covers India's Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

1. Neighborhood & Major Powers

• Neighborhood First (SAARC, BIMSTEC).
• India-China.
• India-US.
• India-Russia.
• India-Central Asia.
• India-Africa.

2. Regional & Strategic Groupings

• Regional Organizations (ASEAN, SCO, NATO).
• Strategic Groupings (Quad, BRICS, G20, G7).
• Connectivity Corridors (IMEC, INSTC).

3. Multilateralism & Global Issues

• Global Institutions (UN, WTO, IMF, WHO, ICC).
• Indian Diaspora.
• Geopolitics of Technology.
• Soft Power: Religion & Culture.

4. Conclusion

Success lies in moving from "Uncertainty" to "Sovereignty-Saturated & Influence-Verified Global Saturation."- Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord (Oct 2025) between Thailand and Cambodia failed to resolve border disputes

• ICJ ruling 1962 affirmed Cambodian ownership of Preah Vihear Temple but access remains disputed
• Dangrrek mount separates Khorat Plateau of Thailand from Cambodian Plain
• String of Pearls is Chinese strategy involving network of ports/facilities across Indian Ocean Region
• Necklace of Diamonds is India's counter-strategy with strategic partnerships and port infrastructure
• PASSEX Exercise between Indian Navy and Royal Navy (UK) enhances maritime security in North Arabian Sea
• Varuna Exercise bilateral maritime cooperation between India and France for maritime peace and security
• Taiwan under Japanese occupation (1895-1945) after Treaty of Shimonoseki
• Taiwan became separate administrative entity when Kuomintang retreated after 1949 communist revolution
• Japan plans deploy medium-range missile unit on Yonaguni Island 100 km from Taiwan's coast
• Spratly Islands in South China Sea claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia
• Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea seized by China in 2012, 2016 PCA ruling favored Philippines
• China's nine-dash line in 1947 claimed 90% of South China Sea, reduced to nine dashes in 1953
• UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) sets limits China's nine-dash line exceeds
• 21% of global trade (.37 trillion) transited South China Sea waters in 2016
• Senkaku Islands (Japan), Diaoyu (China), Diaoyutai (Taiwan) - Japan administers; disputed since 1895
• Sino-Japanese War 1895 led to China ceding Taiwan to Japan
• Bayonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan operated by Russia until 2050, launch site of Sputnik-1 (1957)
• Vostok-1 launched from Baikonur in 1961 with Yuri Gagarin marking space exploration milestone
• Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over mountainous region with ethnic Armenian majority
• Armenians are Christians, Azerbaijanis are Muslims in Nagorno-Karabakh religious divide
• Lachin Corridor (5 km) connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia
• India withdrew from Ayni/Gissar airbase in Tajikistan; was India's only overseas military facility
• India-Tajikistan bilateral agreement signed 2002 for airbase expired and not renewed around 2020
• Ayni airbase located 10 km from Dushanbe, 20 km from Wakhan Corridor in Tajikistan
• Russia controls nearly 19% of Ukrainian territory including 70% of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson
• Luhansk is first Ukrainian region fully under Russian control since 2014 Crimea annexation
• Donbas region (Donetsk, Luhansk) is key industrial hub with Ukraine's largest coal reserves
• Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk dubbed 'gateway to Donetsk', Russian military objective
• Odesa port on Black Sea targeted by Russian strikes
• Chernobyl nuclear plant protective shield damaged by drones, cannot perform safety functions
• Nord Stream pipeline explosions in 2022 damaged gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany
• Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention) bans anti-personnel landmines globally
• ECOWAS established May 28, 1975 by 15 West African countries through Treaty of Lagos, HQ Abuja
• Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali withdrew from ECOWAS in 2024 after military coups
• ECOWAS established free trade area in 1990 and adopted common external tariff in January 2015
• ECOMOG is ECOWAS regional military intervention force for peacekeeping and conflict resolution
• India became Observer to ECOWAS in 2004
• Sudan's civil war ongoing since 2023 between Sudanese Army and RSF
• RSF evolved from Janjaweed militia notorious for Darfur genocide in 2000s, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo
• Sudan's military government backed by Egypt, RSF supported by UAE, controls Darfur
• South Sudan gained independence in 2011 as Africa's newest sovereign state after Sudan secession
• Sudan's GDP contracted 29% in 2023-24, steepest contraction since civil war began
• Somaliland was British protectorate independent June 26, 1960, united with Italian Somalia July 1, 1960
• Somaliland declared independence May 18, 1991 after Somalia civil war and government collapse
• Israel first country to formally recognize Somaliland as independent sovereign state
• Berbera port in Somaliland serves as vital hub for Ethiopia
• Thai-Cambodian border clashes near the Ta Muen Thom temple stem from ambiguity in colonial-era 1904/1907 treaties between France (ruling Cambodia) and Siam over Khmer sites and the Dangrek mountain range.
• The US-mediated Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord (October 2025) between Thailand and Cambodia failed to hold.
• India and the Philippines conducted a two-day bilateral maritime cooperative activity near Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island), a focal point in the China-Philippines maritime dispute.
• China's String of Pearls strategy involves a network of ports and facilities across the Indian Ocean Region; India's counter-strategy is termed the Necklace of Diamonds, involving strategic partnerships and port infrastructure investments with littoral states.
• Exercise PASSEX between the Indian and UK Royal Navy involved INS Tabar and P-8I aircraft alongside the UK Carrier Strike Group in the North Arabian Sea; Exercise Varuna is India's bilateral maritime exercise with France.
• India was the first responder to Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah, mobilising NDRF personnel and helping construct Bailey bridges to restore road access.
• Sri Lanka has over 100 UNESCO-IOC 'Tsunami Ready' certified villages, the first country in the Indian Ocean Region with this distinction; India's Odisha already has 24 such certified coastal villages across six districts.
• INCOIS operates the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre and is the coordinating institute for implementing the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready initiative across India's coastal states and UTs.
• India withdrew from the Ayni/Gissar airbase in Tajikistan, its only overseas military facility, after the 2002 bilateral agreement for its joint operation lapsed; the base was last used in 2021 to evacuate Indians from Afghanistan.
• Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a US-brokered peace agreement over Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan's 2023 military recapture of the region.
• Israel announced work on the long-delayed E1 settlement development east of East Jerusalem, which would break the link between Ramallah and Bethlehem in the West Bank.
• Israel launched an air strike on the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, and separately uprooted olive trees in al-Mughayyir, West Bank.
• The US commenced Operation Hawkeye Strike in Syria targeting ISIS after a gunman killed three Americans in the Palmyra region.
• Ukraine announced its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention (Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty), which bans the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines.
• The US deported foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes to Eswatini, southern Africa's absolute monarchy.
• Israel became the first country to formally recognise Somaliland as an independent, sovereign state.
• The US repeated threats of military operations in Nigeria over killings of Christians, without providing details on damage from strikes in Sokoto state.
• Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) clashed near Lake Chad, in the tri-junction area of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger.
• A Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions was arrested in Italy.