Social Media has changed the nature of political campaigning and plays a key role in providing a networking tool to foster budding dialogues between online communities. Social media, instant coverage journalism and a better understanding of the economy and politics has, enabled a society which is more actively involved in policy making than ever before. However, the same platform has also been used by national leaders and political parties to pursue their agendas and manipulate information. With the widespread technological access, the smartphone life has significantly influenced the spread of political understanding, ideas and instant information sharing.

The 21st century Islamic identity has gone through much scrutiny by the West. In the fight against terror, the leaders of Non-Muslim countries have identified terror as a religious conflict dividing the global sphere into Islamic extremists and Its opposition. This brief analyses such Xenophobic policies through the lens of Social Identity Theory developed by Tajfel and Turner in 1979.

In July 2019, a joint field visit was undertaken by the members of two NGOs working on primary education in India to explore partnership opportunities with state and local partners in order to work with children at STD 5 levels in the Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh through remedial classes and whole-school transformation models. During one such encounter, we had an invigorating discussion with the principal of a local government school in the Shamsabad block of rural UP. Deep-diving into this one particular encounter and establishment further throws light on myriad challenges that mar the education and development space in the region - especially issues concerning truancy, skewed teacher-pupil ratios in classrooms, outpaced growth in teachers compared to growth in the number of schools, along with a weakening social composition of communities within classrooms as well as lack of motivated and educated youth within communities. This paper looks at some of these challenges and the larger picture.

The author discovers that -While India maintains that its commitment to Afghanistan is neither transitory nor in transition, the Afghan policy continues on a deep strategic understanding that India participates in nation building and restore essential infrastructure that fortifies her position in the complex geo- political situation.

Urban development and governance have long been recognized as issues of concern in almost all developing countries. This paper seeks to understand how far the impact of globalization matters for sound urban governance (in the specific context of India), identify the main challenges in implementing the parameters of good governance, and put forward recommendations on how the challenges can be met through the implementation of good governance practices . Key words: globalization. good governance, urban governance delivery,developmental state,policy

South Asia has emerged as a major challenge in dealing with COVID-19 virus in terms of its demographics, economy, social values, political ambition and geographical location. The pandemic viewed through the prism of non-traditional security (NTS) threat presents new challenges and demands reworking of conventional governance mechanisms. India is the South Asian hegemon, and China is the single largest immediate neighbour with expansionist ambition in the region. Two most populous countries—one has been the epicentre of the virus, while the other is one of the most widely affected. Their public health and governance trajectory during the pandemic and their health diplomacy in the region have overtures for security architecture of South Asia in post-COVID-19 world. A lone statist approach and legal–institutional officialdom fail to appreciate the instrumentalities of an unconventional security threat like COVID-19. This calls for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to deal wit...

The geopolitical importance of the Arctic is intensifying with the economic and strategic opportunities being unraveled in the wake of the impact of climate change. The chapter analyses the actors and the factors affecting the current security relations in the region and recommends the creation of a regional security architecture (RSA) to deal with the emerging conflict potential of the Arctic. Through the establishment of an effective RSA for the Arctic, the prime objective of building a security environment that protects the region and promotes sustainable economic growth will be achieved. The chapter has been conceptualized under the broad theme of security studies while drawing specifically from the constructivist-structuralist framework of the regional security complex theory (RSCT).

The cooperation of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, or BRICS, is a vital organization founded in 2009. In the politics of the modern world, there is no denying the significance of this international institution. Throughout its history, the organization has been a strong supporter of developing nations and has earned the reputation of being a guardian. The announcement that BRICS leaders had agreed to expand their organization during the fourteenth BRICS summit, which was held in Beijing, China, in 2022, garnered a great deal of attention from many different regions of the world. This article examines the reasons behind the BRICS" considerable involvement in global politics, the expansion policy, and how the BRICS outreach and the BRICS Plus summit or meeting play a role in this sector.

The twenty-first century world trade mainly revolves around the protectionist environment driven by the United States of America and China. In reaction to such protectionism, the European Union – MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement is a reaction towards protectionism. This agreement took twenty years in the making when the deadlock was first resolved in 2016. This new FTA will be one of the most significant and most sophisticated trade areas in the world. Primarily, because of the magnitude of the trade and investment flows. Together Mercosur and the EU account for a GDP of US$ 20 trillion. Secondly, it is a combined market of 780 million people, almost 1/10th of the total population. Even before the trade agreement, the EU was Mercosur’s second-biggest trading partner and the largest foreign investor in the region. The relationship between the EU and Mercosur is unique as it is EU 8th largest non – regional partner, especially when the EU does not have a preferential trade agreement in Latin America. The new free trade agreement has generated expectations on both sides of Atlantic. The agreement will increase the trade flows, create jobs and decrease youth unemployment, freeing tariffs and fostering markets access to both the EU and Mercosur but environmental activists, indigenous rights campaigners, European Beef farmers and small - scale farmers have denounced the trade agreement deal. The creation of such an agreement between two big regional blocs minimizes losses and stimulate sectors to reach its efficiency. This paper aims to identify the challenges and lay a roadmap for the future of the EU – MERCOSUR trade with the current political system in both the blocs. The agreement is in its principle stages and has not been ratified yet, but it is an agreement worth fighting for as it has the potential for development towards higher growth.

The proliferation of mass surveillance in International Relations has been ceaseless and continual since 9/11. Although surveillance techniques have existed since centuries, its prominence rose only post 9/11 where countries have started investing in their domestic security. Initially, the idea of surveillance was to prevent future terrorist attacks but the factors of globalization have caused states to work alongside the private corporations and collect the data and information from the civilian population to analyse their digital footprints and make future behavioural and consumption-based predictions to generate greater profits in the market. Every state is a surveillance state but none greater than the People’s Republic of China. Mass surveillance in China is a level beyond the western understanding and with the introduction of the Social Credit System, China aims to transform into a Super Surveillance State. The western scholars deem the system as ‘Orwellian’ without thoroughly understanding the need for such a system in the Chinese society, therefore, this paper aims to understand the need of mass surveillance in International Relations by taking the Case Study of China’s Social Credit System. The paper identifies the indicators within the individuals which affect their behaviour due to the presence of such an omnipresent system. To understand the socio-behavioural consequences of such an instrument, parallel will be drawn with various fictitious as well as non-fictitious literature and the final objective of the paper is to establish whether such totalitarian instrumentation could be used as a tool for political and social oppression by current or future totalitarian regimes and the need for a system of checks and balances required to contain the mass proliferation of surveillance technology. The Social Credit System will be analysed through various surveillance theories such as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon followed by prominent behavioural models such as Shoshana Zuboff’s Surveillance Capitalism to predict the change in behaviour caused by mass surveillance.

The foundation of the post-colonial development model was based
on the concept of modernization of the socio-economic and political
growth of third world countries. This development model also
led to advanced communication technology in media such as print,
radio, television, and cinema; also known as development communication.
Cinema acts as a catalyst for the promotion of the concept
of nation-building in third world countries. Since the development
model ignored the voices of marginalized sections of the underdeveloped
nations, cinema helped to portray the unheard voices. In
the Indian context, the Hindi film Naya Daur (1957) as a voice of
resistance posited a strong critic of the top-down approach of the
development model.
A critical reading of Naya Daur (1957) attempts to examine the
narratives of development and the portrayal of development
through industrialization and westernization as a part of nationbuilding.
Since the film raises the question of development politics
in the post-colonial Nehruvian era, the paper tries to examine the
junctures of resistance against the development process and the
nationalist narratives construed in the film. It attempts to analyze
the characterization of resistance and struggles of the local villagers
against mechanization. Thereby, it attempts to encapsulate the
contesting ideas of development and nation-building and the role
of cinema in development communication

M.K. Gandhi is known around the world for his nonviolent political acts, his fight against injustice and imperialism, and his quest for freedom. Gandhi’s emphasis on reclaiming the truth via moral and sacrificial actions remains a potent political weapon against brutal regimes, crimes committed by powerful opponents, and repressive systems (Rai and Tiwary, 2021). Global scholars have extensively researched Gandhi’s engagement across the disciplines, and the field of communication is no exception in that respect. This edited book presents Gandhi as a communicator in a new light. It examines three main issues: 1. What makes him a successful communicator? 2. What are the different modalities of communication? 3. How did Gandhi use mediums of communication during the anti-colonial movement?