This book explores what military strategy is and how it is interconnected with policy on one hand and military operations on the other. In the process, it traces the transformation of the notion of strategy from its original military moorings to a more policy-oriented and-influenced conception and elaborates upon a tripartite framework of policy, strategy and doctrine to think about, understand, and analyse the use of force. The book explores the politics of India-Pakistan conflict in order to root the study of Indian military strategy in the political sphere. It discusses three main issues that have ensured the persistence of conflict: incompatible national identities, Pakistan's congenital quest for parity with and compulsion to challenge India, and irreconcilable positions on the Kashmir issue. The book argues that India has invariably pursued limited political aims that did not threaten Pakistan's survival or form of government or regime in power albeit containing a counter offensive elements. It states that India employed the strategy of exhaustion during the Indian Army's campaigns in the 1947-48 conflict and 1965 war, which made way to strategy of annihilation during the 1971 war (East Pakistan), but after Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapons capability the strategy is back to exhaustion. The book highlights the importance of designing an overall military strategy for waging limited war and pursuing carefully calibrated political and military objectives by creatively combining the individual doctrines of the three services by establishing a Chief of Defence Staff system.
This book examines India’s foreign and defence policy changes in response to China’s growing economic and military power and increased footprint across the Indo-Pacific. It further explores India’s role in the rivalry between China and the United States.
The book looks at the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical landscape and how India is managing China’s rise by combining economic cooperation with a wide set of balancing strategies. The authors in this book critically analyse the various tools of Indian foreign policy, including defence posture, security alignments, and soft power diplomacy, among others, and discuss the future trajectory of India’s foreign policy and the factors which will determine the balance of power in the region and the potential risks involved.
The book provides detailed insights into the multifaceted and complex relationship between India and China and will be of great interest to researchers and students of international relations, Asian studies, political science, and economics. It will also be useful for policymakers, journalists, and think tanks interested in the India–China relationship.
If India-Pakistan dialogue does resume, India is unlikely to return to the Manmohan-Musharraf framework of negotiations because of the Modi government’s commitment to regain Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
India and America enjoy amity in their bilateral relationship, but both share adversarial relations with China. What has cemented their global strategic partnership is the threat that both countries perceive from China. This pattern appears set to continue into the medium term.
China is no longer interested in maintaining previous patterns of its relationships with India and US. It seeks to forge new types of relationships that are reflective of the extant balance of power. China expects India to demonstrate awed subservience and refrain from security cooperation with US.
Research Fellow, IDSA Dr. S. Kalyanaraman’ review of the book The Costliest Pearl: China’s Struggle for India’s Ocean by Bertil Lintner, titled ‘Chinese dragon’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean; has been published by ‘The Tribune’ on November 10, 2019.
India’s decision to ally with America would be contingent upon the degree of convergence between their positions on core issues and the extent of military assistance needed in a two-front war scenario.
This Brief offers an overview of India’s long established as well as more recent external defence and security priorities, and delineates the three options available to the Defence Planning Committee under the extant economic and geopolitical circumstances.
External balancing is re-emerging as an element of policy driven by the yawning power asymmetry between India and China and China’s turn towards assertive behaviour and territorial claims.
India's Military Strategy: Countering Pakistan's Challenge
India’s Great Power Politics
The book looks at the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical landscape and how India is managing China’s rise by combining economic cooperation with a wide set of balancing strategies. The authors in this book critically analyse the various tools of Indian foreign policy, including defence posture, security alignments, and soft power diplomacy, among others, and discuss the future trajectory of India’s foreign policy and the factors which will determine the balance of power in the region and the potential risks involved.
The book provides detailed insights into the multifaceted and complex relationship between India and China and will be of great interest to researchers and students of international relations, Asian studies, political science, and economics. It will also be useful for policymakers, journalists, and think tanks interested in the India–China relationship.
India’s Response to the China Threat Since 1949
Chair: Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy, Director General, MP-IDSA
Presenter: Dr. S. Kalyanaraman, Research Fellow, MP-IDSA
External Discussants: Lt Gen J.S. Bajwa, UYSM, SM (Retd) and Prof Srikanth Kondapalli
India’s Changed Approach to Kashmir Settlement
If India-Pakistan dialogue does resume, India is unlikely to return to the Manmohan-Musharraf framework of negotiations because of the Modi government’s commitment to regain Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Changing Pattern of the China-India-US Triangle
India and America enjoy amity in their bilateral relationship, but both share adversarial relations with China. What has cemented their global strategic partnership is the threat that both countries perceive from China. This pattern appears set to continue into the medium term.
The China-India-US Triangle: Changing Balance of Power and a New Cold War
China is no longer interested in maintaining previous patterns of its relationships with India and US. It seeks to forge new types of relationships that are reflective of the extant balance of power. China expects India to demonstrate awed subservience and refrain from security cooperation with US.
Chinese dragon’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean
Research Fellow, IDSA Dr. S. Kalyanaraman’ review of the book The Costliest Pearl: China’s Struggle for India’s Ocean by Bertil Lintner, titled ‘Chinese dragon’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean; has been published by ‘The Tribune’ on November 10, 2019.
Will India Ally with America?
India’s decision to ally with America would be contingent upon the degree of convergence between their positions on core issues and the extent of military assistance needed in a two-front war scenario.
India’s Defence and Security Priorities
This Brief offers an overview of India’s long established as well as more recent external defence and security priorities, and delineates the three options available to the Defence Planning Committee under the extant economic and geopolitical circumstances.
External Balancing in India’s China Policy
External balancing is re-emerging as an element of policy driven by the yawning power asymmetry between India and China and China’s turn towards assertive behaviour and territorial claims.