Arthasastra: Lesson for the Contemporary Security Environment with South Asia as a Case Study
Civilizational discourses have generated fundamental principles which have stood the scrutiny of time and have the potential to provide a guiding light to complex modern issues. Kautilya’s Arthasastra stands out as a comprehensive discourse that encapsulated the insecurities of warring states and provided prescriptive solutions to the then rulers of the Mauryan Empire. The contemporary security environment in the globalised world today shares a similar tension due to uneven economic progress and an anarchic climate amongst the comity of nations. In this monograph, the Arthasastra framework is used for examination of dynamics of fragility in South Asia, with a case study of Pakistan. The insights into human policy choices which can be gleaned from the treatise have a timeless quality that can offer a fresh perspective to today’s policy makers. It can be open to further academic investigation and debate for developing and enriching an indigenous strategic vocabulary.
About the Author
Wg Cdr Sachin More is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. He is a post graduate in Defence Studies from King’s College London and in Geoinformatics from Sikkim Manipal University. He has completed the Advanced Staff and Command Course from the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham, UK in 2012.
A serving fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, he has extensive experience in fighter flying. He is a graduate of the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment, having served there as a Directing Staff on both Fighter and Helicopter aircraft. An avid reader, his interests include history and economics. In this maiden effort on Arthasastra, the author has brought to life the arguments of the Arthasastra through a contemporary case study.
