Religious nationalism and foreign policy: India and Israel compared

The emergence of India and Israel as independent states in 1947-48 highlighted the power of religious identity to shape political outcomes. While India was partitioned as a result of the demand for a separate Pakistan for the subcontinent‟s Muslims, Israel came into being as the fulfilment of the Zionist vision of Palestine as a homeland for Jews throughout the world. Yet the post-independence leadership of both countries sought to create states informed by secular rather than religious political principles. This paper examines the role of religion in foreign policy in India and Israel with particular reference to the recent salience of Hindu nationalism and religious Zionism. It explores the influence of religion in shaping the foreign policy environment and the perceptions of Indian and Israeli policymakers, focusing in particular on the relationship between secular state interest and nationalism predicated on religious identity. The argument is that for both countries it is imperative to transcend religious nationalism if they are to secure their international position

The Kerala election: a shift to the left – and a move to the right

Last week Kerala’s electoral pendulum swung to once again favour the Left Democratic Front over the Congress-led United Democratic Front. But James Chiriyankandath writes that this year’s contest was unusual in that the BJP emerged as a more credible third force, suggesting the cycle that has developed in the last 60 years is no longer as stable as it looks. This article forms part of a series on the 2016 Legislative Assembly Elections. Click here to read more

Social change and the development of "modern" politics in Travancore: From the late nineteenth century to 1938.

The subject is the development of politics, within a context of social change, in the Indian princely state of Travancore. The thesis is divided into two parts: Part One focuses upon social change, and Part Two on politics. Since, in considering the emergence of 'modern' forms of political expression we are concerned with the twin themes of political socialisation and mobilisation. Part One explores the social background. Beginning with the latter half of the nineteenth century it deals with the development of communal identity. Chapters Two and Three give a survey of the castes and communities in the state and their situation at the turn of the century. They cover social and religious reform movements and the emergence of communal associations. Chapter Four is devoted to religious reform in the 1918-38 period. Chapter Five turns to the economy of Travancore: it considers the rise of capitalism and the consequences of change for nascent class conflict. Having examined political development prior to 1918 in Chapter One, Part Two concentrates on politics in the eventful 1918-38 period. Chapter Six deals with the formation of the early political associations and the campaigns for civic equality and legislative reform in 1918-22. Chapter Seven covers the communal politics of the 1920s. Chapter Eight examines the Abstention movement of 1933-35 that sought an end to the political and administrative dominance of caste-Hindus. The final chapter looks at the background to the formation, in 1938, of the multi-communal Travancore State Congress on a platform of responsible government. The conclusion reviews the transformation of politics in a period of social and institutional change - the development and expression of a new sense of communal identity, nationalism, and an emergent class consciousness. It then goes on to consider the significance of all three in post-1938 Kerala

GRAPHENE BASED MATERIALS FOR SUPERCAPACITORS

The adoption of more environmental friendly means of harnessing and storing energy while minimizing harmful effects on the environment is becoming more significant. Supercapacitors are becoming a more favored means of energy storage systems owing to their higher surface area electrodes and thinner dielectrics. For greater capacitances, a suitable material must have high porosity. Such a suitable material is carbon, most notably graphene, with superior electrical properties, chemical stability and high surface area. This review focuses on the types of mechanism for storing energy, the types of materials used in supercapacitors, and the applications and scope of supercapacitor research and development

The Persistency of the India-Pakistan Conflict: Chances and Obstacles of the Bilateral Composite Dialogue

This article investigates the underlying causes for the persistency of the India–Pakistan conflict and, on this basis, the chances and obstacles of the bilateral composite dialogue initiated in 2004. In particular, it wants to provide a theoretically grounded account of the factors that facilitated and constrained the bilateral composite dialogue process. Drawing on the regional security complex theory, this article examines the rivalry between the two South Asian nuclear powers on four levels of analysis: the domestic, the regional, the interregional and the global level. The analysis shows that there have been some substantial changes on all four levels in the recent decade or so and that these changes have provided more beneficial conditions for a peace process. These changes include, inter alia, India’s new regional policy, the consequences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the region and India’s growing power capacities. However, major obstacles to the India–Pakistan dialogue and a permanent conflict resolution continue to persist: the dominant role of the military in Pakistan, conflicting national identities and the still partially contested nature of statehood in India and Pakistan, which is in the case of Pakistan linked to the growing power of Islamic fundamentalists