A project on “Developing a Framework for Regional Cooperation in Southern Asia”  is being undertaken by the IPCS with support from the MacArthur Foundation. The project seeks to sustain and strengthen the process by which India and China are able to cooperate on the key challenges affecting their bilateral relationship and, to involve their smaller neighbors in their economic growth stories.

The Institute, along with the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) have organized dialogues on issues relating to Global security, the governance of biological threat reduction and China.

In the recent years, three dialogues have been organised on the following issues:

1. A Plan of Action: Managing Global Insecurity, 18 February 2009, New Delhi
2. Governance of Biological Threat Reduction, 8 January 2008, New Delhi
3. Dialogue on China, 19-22 March 2007, Neemrana Fort Palace, Rajasthan
   

Since its inception, the IPCS has been working on various issues related to disarmament, especially Nuclear Disarmament. We are the only research institute in South Asia that focuses on all aspects of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), including  Chemical, Biological and Radiological weapons.

The programme, aims to promote research on Southeast Asia in India, and provide a platform for greater deliberation among policy-makers and academics, and to generate a pool of well researched knowledge on various policies concerning India and Southeast Asia, through organizing events and publishing reports.

South Asia is the most violent region in the world today. The Institute has been extensively and consistently monitoring the conflicts since 2006 and publishing an annual volume (published by Routledge) documenting these conflicts - changes in violent trends, tactics, state and non-state actors involved - and efforts being made towards conflict mitigation and management. 

The China Research Programme of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies is aimed at achieving a comprehensive understanding of the contemporary socio-economic and political changes taking place in China. The primary focus is to enhance the understanding on internal developments within China.

The events of 9/11 catapulted concerns about ‘failed’ states to the centre stage of world politics. These states are those that are believed to provide fertile breeding ground for terror networks, since they are seen to provide ideal conditions for training, indoctrination, access to weapons and financial resources for their activities. It is commonly argued that weak and failing states are the primary bases for operations for most ‘US-designated foreign terrorist organizations’, including the al-Qaeda, since states that are not in control of their own territories and people, are seen as suffering from a ‘vacuum’ that terrorists, criminal groups or insurgents can fill up.

While there have been numerous theories and formulations on the idea of Weak and Failing States, mostly they have been authored by scholars from West. The Institute is working on the subject to understand from a South Asian perspective.

To address contemporary concerns related to nuclear weapons, WMD threats, nuclear disarmament and regional security, the Institute organizes capacity building workshops for young scholars in New Delhi. The objective of these workshops is to build awareness on WMD threats and reintroduce the disarmament debate among young scholars in New Delhi. In 2008, the Institute organized two capacity building workshops and one in 2009. 
This project is supported by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).

To address the contemporary challenges in nuclear weapons, regional security and disarmament and build a more informed younger community of scholars, the Institute along with Universities, Colleges and Think-tanks organizes regional workshops. Two workshops were held in 2008 in Chennai, and the third workshop will be held in Bangalore during February 2009.

This project is a follow up of an earlier project that the Institute undertook in 2008 titled - Kashmir Dispute: Making Borders Irrelevant. This project aims to answer the following questions: How can the tourism industry be developed in such a way to increase confidence between India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir region, and in a way that can promote conflict management? Which sectors in particular would need to be constructively engaged in sustainable and conflict-sensitive tourism development?
This project is funded by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

This project is undertaken by the Consortium of South Asian Think Tanks (COSATT) with support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF). The first round of dialogue took place in Kathamndu in January 2009. Final Round took place in Dhaka in 2010.

The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, undertook a book project on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal in 2008. The book titled “Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Seeking Synergy in Bilateralism”, edited by PR Chari has been published by Taylor and Francis India and is the first such book on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal since it was signed in 2008.

The volume is a collection of 12 articles which sketch the role played by various actors — state and individual, both national and international, in either obstructing or facilitating its finalization. It examines and analyzes the various political and technical issues relating to the deal since negotiations between the two countries began and locates these within the totality of Indo-US relations. Further, it provides an analysis of the deal from different viewpoints — domestic, international, the media, non-proliferation lobbyists, pro-deal pressure groups, its technical dimensions, and most importantly, the political dynamics of the deal, making this work a holistic study of a significant event in Indo-US bilateral relations.