By Chris Ogden .

FPC Research Associate Chris Ogden explores the warming relations between India and China and how they can work together to face common challenges in their troublesome neighbours.

Download India-China Relations and the Future of Af-Pak (190 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

By Ella Rolfe.

Recent curbs on civil liberties are attempts to grasp slipping control over population

While Pakistan may seem to be descending into a pitched battle between state and Taliban, the current power relations are much more nuanced than this. To be sure, the Pakistani authorities are engaged in a large military operation against the Taliban in the country's north-western tribal areas; but there is a power struggle within the Pakistani polity as well. And the army, not the civilian government, is firmly in charge of efforts against militancy.

Full text 

By Chris Ogden .

New FPC Research Associate Chris Ogden looks into the future of India's Hindu nationalist opposition party - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP - Indian People's Party)- that faces a potentially uncertain and unstable future after its 2009 election defeat. Despite remaining as India's second largest political force, and indeed the country's only other national party besides Congress, the BJP faces a period of repackaging for India's electorate. Given that the BJP's current head, LK Advani who turns 82 on Sunday 8th November, and has announced his plans to step-down, any re-branding will be underscored by a phase of internal restructuring, most prominently involving the emergence of a new leader.

Download FPC Briefing: India's BJP Contemplate their Future (240 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Shairi Mathur

September 2005 £4.95, plus £1 p+p. Buy it on CentralBooks.co.uk

Download Voting for the Veto (170 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

The case for India's permanent seat in the Security Council is as compelling as it is simple. India is the world's largest democracy, soon to be the world's most populous country, and home to over 15 per cent of the world's population; it possesses nuclear weapons and strategic missiles; it has at various times taken a global leadership role, not least in its co-founding of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1955; and as an early champion of the concept of 'peaceful co-existence' between the communist bloc and the free world, India has been a leading advocate of 'peaceful' foreign policies and non-aggression. In 2005, the World Bank ranked India as having the fourth biggest GDP in the world (in terms of purchasing power parity), and tenth biggest (in terms of the conventional GDP measure). India has taken part in more than 30 UN peacekeeping operations. By any sensible measure of 'equity', the reform of the Security Council in 2005 should result in India's elevation to the Security Council with the same powers as China and the USA.

Further information 

Prasenjit K. Basu, Brahma Chellaney, Parag Khanna, Sunil Khilani

£9.95, plus £1 p+p. Buy it on CentralBooks.co.uk

Download the report (440 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

In 30 years India's economy could be larger than all but those of the US and China. In this collection of essays, with a preface by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Kamalesh Sharma, four leading thinkers on India explore how it can carve out a world role that best serves its goals and interests.

Further information 

Date: Monday 10th March 2008, 3pm to 5pm

Venue: Grimond Room, Portcullis House, Bridge Street, London, SW1A 2LW

Speakers:

• Salvatore Gabola, Director of Worldwide Stakeholder Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
• Daniel Graymore, Team Leader, Business Alliance Team, Department for International Development
• Daniel Litvin, Director, Critical Resource Strategy & Analysis
• Stephen Twigg (Chair), Director, The Foreign Policy Centre

About this event:

At this event, the Foreign Policy Centre launched a major project on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in emerging markets in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain. The project will explore the role of multinational corporations' CSR practices in emerging markets in the areas of labour standards, marketplace practices, and the environment. With an initial background paper, this launch seminar reviewed recent trends in multinationals' CSR practices, defined the latest debate on CSR, and established the context for the following three seminars which will form part of this project.

This event was held in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain.

Download the initial background paper (140 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Monday 4 December 2006, 11.30am to 1pm

Venue: Committee Room 12,(PLEASE NOTE ROOM CHANGE) House of Commons

This event on Balochistan, a volatile region of Pakistan is part of a series of events the Foreign Policy Centre is organising in Parliament on conflicts that receive little attention in the media or elsewhere.

Speakers include:

Ms Asma Jehangir, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Commission on Human Rights (tbc)

Mr Jaromir Kohlicek MEP, Vice-Chair, SAARC Delegation

Mr Selig Harrison, Centre for International Policy, Washington DC

Senator Tariq Azeem, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Government of Pakistan

Mr Javed Mengal, Former Senator, Balochistan National Party

Philip Fiske, Foreign Policy Centre (Chair)

Why does Balochistan matter? Balochistan crosses the states of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran and in some ways is the 'Kurdistan of Central Asia'. Balochistan is a crucial element to Britain's relations with Pakistan and the Pakistani community in the UK. Quetta, the capital of Balochistan in Pakistan is a known hideout for Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters.

The Balochi people believe they have been oppressed in many ways by the Pakistani government. Feudal systems of government, corruption and incompetence have lead to socio-economic backwardness and extreme poverty. NGOs have raised concerns of political incarceration and torture of Balochi political activists such as Rasheed Azam.

In addition, Balochistan's gas resources have received much attention from both Iran and China, keen to get a foothold in the province. These facts make a compelling case that Balochistan should be on the radar of the international community.

If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Alex Bigham by emailing alex.bigham[at]fpc.org.uk or calling 020 7729 7566.

Tuesday 27 June 2006, 6.00-8.00pm

Venue: Committee Room 16, House of Commons, SW1

The Foreign Policy Centre, in partnership with the Baluchistan Rights Movement is hosting a seminar on the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, entitled 'Baluchistan at the Crossroads'.

This will provide an introduction to this area, for both experts and non-experts alike. For those not familiar with the region, Baluchistan crosses the states of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran and in some ways is the 'Kurdistan of Central Asia'.

This seminar will cover a number of important issues: the tense relationship between the Baluch people and the central government; human rights issues; the use of natural resources; security and terrorism issues; and the activities of the Pakistan army in the region. Baluchistan is a crucial element to Britain's relations with Pakistan and the Pakistani community in the UK. Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan in Pakistan is a known hideout for Al-Qaeda operatives, including the now captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Speakers include:

Frederic Grare, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Husain Haqqani, Boston University

Senator Sana Baloch, from Baluchistan

Mr Mehran Baloch, from the Baluchistan Rights Movement

Ryszard Czarnecki MEP

Hugh Barnes, Director of Democracy and Conflict, Foreign Policy Centre (Chair)

Read the full report of the seminar here:

http://fpc.org.uk/articles/369

Places are limited, so please RSVP to alex.bigham[at]fpc.org.uk