Members of Parliament, press correspondents, interested University men and the attentive newspaper reading public in India, all agree that not enough information is available in easily assimilable form to enable a meaningful debate on matters pertaining to national security. It is one of the strange ironies of the situation that in spite of this criticism being voiced for well over a decade, and the country having gone through two major wars and a border skirmish, there has been no effort to study the reasons underlying this state of affairs, and to suggest concrete remedial steps.

• Authors: K. Subrahmanyam
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

Under the Constitution of India, the President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. He is required to act in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. Thus the ultimate authority with regard to all Defence matters rests with the Defence Minister, subject to the overall direction of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues. The Defence Minister is assisted by the Defence Secretary on the civil side, and by the Chiefs of the three armed forces—the Chief of Array Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff and the Chief of Air Staff.

• Authors: P.V.R. Rao
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) can look back at its 50-year journey with satisfaction and pride. Undoubtedly a premier research institution in the country, it occupies a distinctive place in the community of prominent global think tanks as a leading centre for strategic research.

• Authors: Arvind Gupta
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

This year, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses celebrates 50 eventful years of its existence. In my association with the Institute, between 2005 and 2011, an effort was made to strengthen the Institute’s overall capacity to contribute to strategic thinking in India. In this effort, I was ably assisted by the Institute’s scholars and my other colleagues. There was clear emphasis on institution building, rather than individual research efforts.

• Authors: N. S. Sisodia
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

It is a privilege to be invited to contribute to the special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the IDSA. The institution and the time span are respectively multi-hued and vast and the managing editor has thoughtfully suggested that I dwell on three aspects: my personal association with the institution; its major punctuations and contributions; and the way ahead, as it were—all from my limited perspective.

• Authors: C Uday Bhaskar
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

Established to fill a gap between policy research and policy innovation, the IDSA is the original gurukul of strategic analyses in modern India. My reminiscences of IDSA in the seventies are a décollage selected to share in a sense of national pride for witnessing some momentous events that became bench marks in shaping India’s defense posture. It (décollage) also expresses professional gratification for being a part of the IDSA faculty with K Subrahmanyam as its Director.

• Authors: Swadesh Rana
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

The foreign policy of a state is determined by its domestic policy, the internal balance of power. The domestic political configuration of any state has a predominant role in understanding its foreign political moves. Therefore, an attempt to analyse the orientation of a state’s foreign policy without considering such key factors as its political system, interest groups, intra-elite competition and personal ambitions of its leader and others is not feasible.

• Authors: Nargiza T. Bektemirova
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

While we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Germany and remember more than 25 years of the Peaceful Revolution towards the end that took place in Leipzig and across the German Democratic Republic (GDR), it is also important to turn our attention to the still divided Korean Peninsula, and to maintain the vision of ‘One Korea’. The emphasis should really be on the word ‘vision’. More than 60 years after the devastating Korean War, the Peninsula remains divided and families separated.

• Authors: Conrad Rein
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

Strategic geniuses are natural strategic thinkers even without much guidance. While the complexity of strategy makes it extremely difficult to formulate and execute, geniuses like Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz or Chinese General Sun Tzu were successful in developing strategies that are still relevant today. However, as strategic history suggests, military strategists do not need to be geniuses to succeed in creating decisive strategies.1 Strategists only need sufficient expertise to be able to outthink and outmanoeuvre their adversaries.

• Authors: Francis C. Domingo
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis

The realisation that trade and investment are key to development is backed up by development theories and empirical studies. This article identifies existing patterns of trade and investments between India and Africa, whereby Africa has a trade surplus through exports of mostly unprocessed commodities and importing processed merchandise from India.

• Authors: Hoseana Bohela Lunogelo
• September 2015
• Strategic Analysis