Two decades ago, in June 2000, with democratic transitions across the world in a spirit of optimism at the dawn of the new Millennium, representatives of 106 states gathered in Warsaw for the opening Ministerial Conference Towards a Community of Democracies. The Community of Democracies (CoD) was then born as a shared initiative of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek. “He wanted this city - his city - to be known for something other than the Warsaw Pact; the Warsaw Declaration.” – Secretary Albright, speaking of Geremek at the opening conference.

Perception of China among V4 Political Elites Together with partners from Central European Institute of Asian Studies (Slovakia), Association for International Affairs (Czechia), and Central and Eastern European Center of Asian Studies (Hungary), we prepared  a policy paper which aims to explore the perception of China among the political elites of the Visegrad countries. We try to provide an overview of how different politicians and political parties perceive China so as to shed more light on what factors influence China-related policymaking in the V4 regions.

The radical step taken by Government of India has had predictable response in the country. A good many Indians are rejoicing that Kashmir, finally, after seven decades, got fully integrated into India. However, India being a democratic country, a number of people are resenting the repeal of Article 370 that lent Kashmir a special status. There are also people, mainly commentators, complaining about the manner in which it was done and the passage on the J&K Reorganisation Bill, while they endorse the action. Reactions to this historic development cuts across communities and regions - wrote dr. D.K. Giri (Prof. International Politics, JMI) in comment Containing Global Fallout.