Handbook of Indian Defence Policy ― Themes, Structures and Doctrines

India has the world’s fourth largest military and one of the biggest defence budgets. It asserts its political and military profile in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. The nation has been in the midst of an ambitious plan to modernize its largely Soviet-era arms since the late 1990s and has spent billions of dollars on latest high-tech military technology.

This handbook:

• canvasses over 60 years of Indian defence policy and the major debates that have shaped it;

• discusses several key themes such as the origins of the modern armed forces in India; military doctrine and policy; internal and external challenges; and nuclearization and its consequences;

• includes contributions by well-known scholars, experts in the field and policymakers; and

• provides an annotated bibliography for further research.

Presented in an accessible format, this lucidly written handbook will be an indispensable resource for scholars and researchers of security and defence studies, international relations and political science, as well as for government think tanks and policymakers.

Harsh V. Pant is Professor of International Relations in Defence Studies Department and the India Institute at King’s College London. He is also Associate at the Centre for Science and Security Studies and Adjunct Fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC. His current research is focused on Asian security issues. His recent books includeThe Rise of China: Implications for India (2012); The US–India Nuclear Pact: Policy, Process and Great Power Politics (2011); andThe China Syndrome (2010). Pant writes regularly for media including The Japan Times, The Wall Street Journal, The National (UAE),and The Indian Express.