Mahabharata’s Strategic Insights: Navigating the Dharmic Compass
- Publisher: Pentagon Press
The appeal and allure of the Mahabharata have remained undiluted for centuries. It is the first text that lays the foundation of Indian strategic thought. This book's analysis is based on the English translation of The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, by the late Bibek Debroy. The epic falls in the unique category of itihasa, which translates to “it happened like this”. Drawing on historical facts, its primary aim remains deriving lessons and contextualising these with the present. It is a living text with a timeless appeal.
The Mahabharata is a foundational text for Indian strategic thought. It successfully distils ancient strategic wisdom through a combination of descriptive, didactic and prescriptive approaches. In doing so, dharma remains its abiding spiritual, philosophical and strategic anchor, with Krishna as its primary architect. This guidance frames the objective of yoga kshema as the raja dharma of a king, or a state, in contemporary times. The book discusses a conceptual framework for wars. This includes its conditional acceptability, planning process and conduct. The book also compares key aspects of the Mahabharata with the Arthashastra and Nitisara, to identify common elements of strategic thought over a period spanning almost 2,000 years.
- ISBN: 978-81-988370-7-3,
- Price: ₹ 995/-
- E-copy available
India And The Emerging World Order
- Publisher: Pentagon Press
International Relations stand at a crucial juncture today. The multilateral order represented by the United Nations and the Bretton Woods system has not met the evolving requirements of changes in the balance of power. The global community today is confronted with a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in stasis, with major powers ranged against one another, on trade and technology and in the context of ongoing military conflicts. This edited volume attempts to encapsulate India`s pragmatic foreign policy outlook in an international order that is characterised by polycrisis, polarisation and eroding global consensus on pressing issues.
The book is the outcome of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)`s pilot project, the Director General`s Young Scholars` Book Initiative. The core aim of this project is to inculcate in the young scholars at the level of Research Analysts (RAs), the art of conceptualising, drafting, editing and publishing an edited volume in accordance with the high standards of the Institute. Above all, it offers an opportunity to view geopolitics through the eyes of the young scholars who will take academic research forward.
- ISBN: 9788198748416 ,
- Price: ₹ 1495/-
- E-copy available
Ukraine War: Military Perspectives and Strategic Reflections
- Publisher: Pentagon Press
The idea for this book emerged in the course of discussions during the initial stages of the Ukraine War. It was, however, realised that any attempt at drawing lessons prematurely could lead to misleading conclusions. Accordingly, instead of absolutist conjectures, the book is an exercise in identifying broader trends.
Much water has flown under the bridge since then. Along the way, the world has been introduced to an array of new sophisticated weapons, missiles and drones that question the very relevance of established battlefield platforms such as tanks, for instance. In this volume, the contributors address several aspects of the war in an attempt to explain, elaborate and challenge existing notions with the larger aim of drawing lessons for policymakers and professionals alike.
Ukraine War: Military Perspectives and Strategic Reflections, presents a comprehensive assessment of the ongoing conflict. Divided into five sections, the book delves into the geopolitical backdrop of the conflict, highlights its operational narrative, dissects the components of military power, explores the impact of disruptive technologies and examines the strategic ramifications of this ongoing war.
- ISBN: 978-81-968722-8-1 ,
- Price: ₹ 1495/-
- E-copy available
India’s Military Strategy: Countering Pakistan’s Challenge
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.
- ISBN: 9789356400023 ,
- Price: ₹ 1299/-
Best Practices in Financial Management: Integrated Financial Advisor for Defence
The institution of Financial Advisor in any organization is a salient pillar of good governance and accountability. In a government organization, Integrated Finance serves as the sine qua non for most efficacious utilization of available funds. The Ministry of Defence in particular, with its prodigious and multifarious expenditure, stands to gain enormously if its resources are harnessed in the most productive manner possible.
Indian Defence Diplomacy: A Handbook
The discipline of defence diplomacy picked up salience as an important component of foreign policy with most major militaries by the end of the Cold War. Particularly, in the last three decades, it has become a vital instrument in the diplomatic tool-bag of most countries.
