Force in Statecraft: An Indian Perspective

Contents: Preface. 1. Painting the landscape/Arjun Subramaniam. 2. Limited war/Prakash Menon. 3. Evolution of India’s counter-insurgency doctrine/J.R. Mukherjee. 4. Changing contours of conflict in India’s Northeast and J&K/D.S. Hooda. 5. Left wing extremism and urban terrorism/K.C. Verma. 6. Manoeuvre warfare. the past-present-future/Praveen Bakshi. 7. Pushing the limits of endurance. high altitude warfare/Rakesh Sharma. 8. Firepower/P.R. Shankar. 9. India’s rise: the imperative of sea power/Anil Chopra. 10. India’s aircraft carrier dilemma/Arun Prakash. 11. The future of undersea warfare in the 21st century/P Ashokan. 12. The enduring relevance of offensive airpower/Diptendu Choudhury. 13. Air transport operations: critical responders and vital enablers/Rajeev Sachdeva. 14. The Indian rotary wing: legacy and prospects/Rajesh Isser. 15. Employment of special forces in future conflict scenarios/Prakash Katoch. 16. Synergy in higher defence organisation/Arup Raha. 17. Lessons in jointness from the Andaman and Nicobar command experience/Sudhir Pillai. 18. India’s nuclear posture/Balraj Singh Nagal. 19. Understanding China for the strategic practitioner/S.L. Narasimhan. Index.

Since national security impacts every citizen in India, there is a growing need for a more sophisticated, broad-based and nuanced understanding of the instrument of force in statecraft. Largely confined to the strategic elite and practitioners thus far, a wider national security discourse could generate better ideas to proliferate and morph into better policies, strategies and doctrines. This academic endeavour, the first of its kind from India’s National Defence College, seeks to tap the vast operational experience of all the contributors and offers a basic understanding of several important cornerstones of force and war fighting; how they can best be employed in current and future scenarios; and how best they can be synergised for effect. It is a go-to book for policy makers, legislators, diplomats, academics, leadership at various levels in the various national security verticals including the military, media and the curious reader even as India grapples with new and emerging security challenges in a volatile global geopolitical landscape.