Prakash Menon

Self-reliance in defence may be better realised if India’s military instrument were to be shaped by political guidance and geopolitical considerations instead of being carried away by the contemporary winds of COVID-19.

• Published: June 01, 2020
• IDSA Comments

Any dichotomy between the individual rights of the people and the powers of the state has to be dealt with through a nuanced approach.

• Published: April 29, 2020
• IDSA Comments

The lack of international cooperation and trust deficit to tackle the COVID-19 crisis is stark. The pandemic of fear may deepen an ongoing shift towards increased anarchy reflected in ‘everyone for himself’ and could further energise the process of weakening international institutions and agreements.

• Published: April 17, 2020
• IDSA Comments

The creation of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the Ministry of Defence portends better civil-military cooperation. That India’s civil-military cooperation was in need of structural reform was never doubted. Yet, the implementation of such reform lacked political will, faced bureaucratic resistance, and was stymied by elements within the armed services.

• Published: January-June 2020
• Journal of Defence Studies

Kargil was an early milestone in India’s journey towards becoming a nuclear weapons power. Two decades later, India has shed the image of a reluctant nuclear power and morphed into being a responsible one. The credit for this achievement can be traced to the wisdom that is embedded in India’s nuclear doctrine that has guided the development, growth and deployment of its nuclear wherewithal. The hallmarks of the doctrine like Civilian control, No First Use, and Credible Minimum Deterrence have endured despite internal and external pressures.

• Published: July-September 2019
• Journal of Defence Studies

The vulnerability of soldiers to exaggerated, motivated and false FIRs is fundamentally a result of the State preferring to deal with legal issues in disturbed areas within the framework of a law and order problem.

• Published: July 19, 2019
• IDSA Comments

India’s Professional Military Education (PME) system is weighted towards the tactical level in all stages of professional development. This results in inadequate exposure of its senior leadership to strategic studies, thus inhibiting the provision of qualitative advice at the strategic level. While combat as an instrument of warfare is focused on at all levels, it fails to relate to war as an instrument of politics. It underlines the absence of an effort to build a broader vision that incorporates the entire constellation of forces.

• Published: October 2015
• Journal of Defence Studies