Kajari Kamal

The interweaving of philosophy with statecraft lends Kautilya’s Arthashastra a unique comprehensive approach. Even if some of the Kautilyan tenets are resoundingly commonsensical, the lamp of philosophy credibly illuminates its Indianness.

• Published: April 28, 2021
• 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 utility of the theory of strategic culture to explain the choices nation-states make is still to be convincingly proven. Alastair Iain Johnston has provided a viable notion of strategic culture that is falsifiable, its formation traced empirically, and its effect on state behaviour differentiated from other non-ideational variables. Following his methodological framework, Kautilya’s Arthashastra is identified as the ‘formative’ ideational strategic text which is assessed to illuminate Indian strategic culture.

• Published: July-September 2018
• Journal of Defence Studies