Journal of Defence Studies

When Counterinsurgency Wins: Sri Lanka’s Defeat of the Tamil Tigers by Ahmed S. Hashim

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-led insurgency in Sri Lanka was amongst the fiercest and most bloody low-intensity conflicts fought during the last two decades of the 20th century...

Climate Change and Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean Region

Climate change is likely to influence maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The growing unpredictability in climate and weather patterns is having a disproportionate impact over the region....

Enhancing Jointness in Indian Armed Forces: Case for Unified Commands

The nature of warfare has undergone a major change over the last few decades, brought about by rapid advancement in technologies combined with changes in doctrines and organisational concepts. This...

India’s Military Modernization: Challenges and Prospects, edited by Rajesh Basrur, Ajaya Kumar Das and Manjeet S. Pardesi

The emergence of India as an Asian great power in line with its economic development in recent years is a matter of significant strategic interest regionally and globally. India’s unique...

Impact of the Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Defence (14th Lok Sabha) on the Defence Budget

In the run-up to the voting on the budget, detailed demands for grant(DDGs) presented by various ministries to the Parliament are examinedby the departmentally-related standing committees. As Parliamentcannot possibly examine...

Nanotechnology: Current Global Trends and Future Military Applications for ‘Soldier as a System’

The last decade has witnessed unprecedented developments in the discovery of novel materials and their radically different properties at nano scales. Global efforts in research and development (R&D)in nanotechnology are...

India at Risk by Jaswant Singh

The book covers reflections of a soldier-turned-politician on the security challenges faced by India since her independence. The author has covered major events like the 1947–48 Kashmir War, the 1962...

Insurgency in North-East India: External Dynamics

State and non-state elements in India’s neighbourhood have been supporting insurgency in the North-East to weaken the Indian state. In the 1960s and 1970s, insurgents from the region, particularly the...

Indian Perceptions of China’s Maritime Silk Road Idea

The Maritime Silk Road (MSR) idea is part of this wider attempt by China to construct multiple lines of communication to its economic heartland in eastern China since the early...

Energy and Security in South Asia: Cooperation or Conflict? by Charles K. Ebinger

South Asia, with its legacy of suspicion, mistrust, ethnic sectarianism, and political parochialism would have fallen off the global map had it not been for its large and growing populations....

Embedding India in Asia: Reaffirming the Indo-Pacific Concept

The emergence of the Indo-Pacific as a new geopolitical frame of reference is embedded in the growing strategic importance of the maritime domain and the rise of states that have...

Pakistan the Garrison State: Origins, Evolution, Consequences 1947–2011 by Ishtiaq Ahmed

Pakistan has had a distinctive and chequered trajectory since its creation in August 1947, following the partition of British India, and was conceived on the basis of the contested two-nation...

Statecraft and Intelligence Analysis in the Kautilya-Arthashastra

In the Kautilya-Arthashastra, espionage and other ‘operational’ activities of the secret service—notably ‘active measures’ and ‘covert action’—are addressed often and in detail. In contrast, Kautilya seems to say very little...

Fighting Back: What Governments Can Do about Terrorism, edited by Paul Shemella

The scourge of terrorism is not new. However, its relevance andprominence in public discourse has seen a marked rise after 9/11. Whilea lot of writings concentrated on the immediate aftermath...

Indians, Anzacs and Gallipoli, 1915

As one of the world’s most populous nations, India today has one of its largest armies, which stands ready to defend the nation. A century ago, India’s army was similarly...

Terrorism Finance: Sources and Trends in India

Terrorism finance (TF) has been termed as the life blood of terrorism, one of the most important factors sustaining its continuing threat, both from within and without. In the West,...

The Battle of Imphal: March–July 1944

The year 2014 is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Imphal. To mark the occasion, this article looks at who fought it; how and where the fighting unfolded in...

Countering Terrorism: Psychological Strategies, edited by Updesh Kumar and Manas K. Mandal, New Delhi: Sage, 2012, pp. 444, INR 850

The book is a collection of 18 research essays authored by 27 international personalities from various countries (including four from India). It is devoted to understanding ‘Causes of Terrorism and...

Internal Armed Conflict in India: Forging a Joint Civil–Military Approach, by Rostum K. Nanavatty, New Delhi: Pentagon Press, 2013, pp. 246, INR 595

Though the Indian Army has been committed to counterinsurgency operations for the past 60 years, Indian policymakers are yet to formulate a joint civil–military doctrine for resolution of internal armed...

Wars by Pakistan, by Vikram Munshi

The Pakistan-India relationship has been marked by both peaks and troughs, and scepticism and suspicion of each other’s motives has never been far behind. The two states were one till...