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"This book focuses on the geopolitics of Central Asia which has emerged as the new fertile ground for oil and energy resources. It analyses the scramble for control over the region by many nations and their diplomatic manoeuvrings to ensure energy sufficiency and economic growth. The book provides a quantitative analysis of the Central Asian energy potential and offers an understanding of the unique position that each country occupies in the geopolitics of oil and energy in the region. It looks at aggressive foreign policies by countries like the US, China, the European Union, Japan, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and India, focusing primarily on India's position and strategies in the region within the new great game. The book further examines the dynamics between Central Asia and India and India's policies for geopolitical engagement and diversification of energy sources. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students of political studies, international relations, economics, sociology, and Asian studies. It will also be useful for policymakers and professionals working in the field of energy security and geo-economics"--

India and Kazakhstan share deep-rooted historical relations since millennia. The spread of Buddhism to Central Asia from India and Islam to India through Babur – the founder of the Mughal dynasty – vividly reflects at least 2500 years old cultural and civilizational ties with both the regions, yet India has been perceived in Kazakhstan as a latecomer and disinterested power. While many attribute New Delhi's lack of political willpower and economic muscle as reasons for its consistent failure in the energy sector of Kazakhstan since 1990s, this article after thorough examination holds New Delhi's diffident policy accountable for this. Although, at the beginning of the 21st century, the UPA government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh had tried to come out of that slumber through the initiation of 'Connect Central Asia Policy' yet a lack of concerted effort has derailed the renewed process. However, with Modi in New Delhi as the Prime Minister of India has shown keen interests and passionate desire to tie up with the region through commercial and strategic opportunities especially with Kazakhstan in energy sector yet both the countries need a massive overhaul in their relationship to transform the short-sighted association into a broad-based strategic engagement focussing on energy cooperation. This article uncovers the irritants, misplaced imaginations and wrong assumptions that deny India a foothold in the energy hub of Kazakhstan. It therefore argues for a paradigm shift in India's Central Asia policy which New Delhi so far has been ignoring and strongly urges India to take Russia on board while dealing with Kazakhstan.

Water since 1991 has been at the centre of competition and controversy among the downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and the upstream countries (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). In recent years, increasing competition for water at an alarming rate only added to an already uneasy tension. While the downstream countries require more water for their agriculture and domestic needs, the impoverished upstream countries are attempting resource nationalism to accrue benefits using the precious waters. In the context of this milieu, this article attempts to examine the connection between resourcefulness and interstate and intrastate conflict in Central Asia and particularly in Kyrgyzstan.

Water since 1991 has been at the centre of competition and controversy among the downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and the upstream countries (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). In recent years, increasing competition for water at an alarming rate only added to an already uneasy tension. While the downstream countries require more water for their agriculture and domestic needs, the impoverished upstream countries are attempting resource nationalism to accrue benefits using the precious waters. In the context of this milieu, this article attempts to examine the connection between resourcefulness and interstate and intrastate conflict in Central Asia and particularly in Kyrgyzstan.

Energy has become the symbol of 21st-century geopolitics. Asia in this geopolitical game is considered to be the ground zero. As of 2021, at least a quarter of the world's liquid hydrocarbons are consumed by China, India, Japan and South Korea. Over the next 20 years, 85% of the growth in energy consumption will come from the Indo-Pacific region. According to the World Energy Outlook, China will account for 40% of the growing consumption until 2025, after which India will emerge as the biggest single source of increasing demand. The increase in demand for gas will overtake that for oil and coal combined. Part of the story here is that the Indo-Pacific region will become increasingly reliant on oil from the Middle East and Central Asia. By 2030, 80% of Chinese oil will be imported while 90% in the case of India. But Japan and South Korea will remain 100% dependent on oil imports. Where from these huge amounts of oil and gas will come? The scramble for oil and gas in Central Asia probably is the right answer to the question asked. To materialize the quest for oil and energy, many countries although lately but turned towards Central Asia for sure. With this premise, the present article attempts to contextualize the geopolitics of energy in Central Asia and tries to investigate the nature and contour of the great game while illustrating the unflinching importance of the region for global energy security in general and the Indian energy security in particular.

The global energy scenario is undergoing a tectonic shift in recent times. While energy security has been emerging as one of the cornerstones of the foreign policy of major countries, a new geological survey has the promise of new discoveries and reserves untapped. One such epic new frontier of the world geological survey has been the post-Soviet Central Asia consisting of five "Stans" of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, along with the Caspian Sea region. Sitting on huge untapped hydrocarbon potentials, the Central Asian geographical entity in recent years has offered enormous opportunity and appeal for countries adjacent to the region and far beyond. That is perhaps the reason that even after the disintegration of the USSR, the geopolitical importance of Central Asia has never waned down, instead it emerged as a grand chessboard for regional and extra-regional players for the immense opportunities it offered for the energy-crunch countries as potentially new and non-OPEC source of oil and natural gas. In the quest for energy security and diversity of supply sources by energy consumers, the heartland has witnessed a new great game in the scramble for resources. This accentuated struggle for oil and energy in the region has further led to aggressive foreign policy formulations and strategic calculation by countries such as the United States, China, the European Union, Japan, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, and India, to which many now call "the New Great Game" for not just controlling but administering energy resources of the region. The bottom line of the New Great Game, unlike the previous version, is essentially played out around petropolitics and pipeline diplomacy. To support the scramble for energy in Central Asia and the aggressive petropolitics and pipeline diplomacy by major powers, the study adopts the peak oil theory of Club of Rome thesis to understand the global tectonic shift of energy frontiers. Further, this article attempts to examine the position of India in Central Asia and its policy initiatives in the epic quest for oil and energy in the traditional bastion of Russia and the new grand chessboard of China and the United States.

In academic and intellectual circles, Humanitarian Intervention (HI) and the duty to protect have historically been seen as morally and ethically right because of its contentious practices have been at the forefront of international relations discourse in recent years. Having failed to come up with a consensus set of rules, parameters and principles to justify intervention, the Just War logic of Humanitarian Intervention falls flat on the face of the sovereign rights of the states. In this milieu, this article critically examines the rationale of humanitarian intervention in Syria and evaluates the concept of just war to claim that it is outdated and its application in the name of humanitarian intervention needs to be assessed. This study adopts the theory of social constructivism to decode the liberal perspective of Humanitarian Invention as a just war or socially constructed to manipulate world public opinion and address the inherent national interests of involved countries or the diplomatic failure of the United Nations Organization.