Publication Filter

This issue of the Journal of Defence Studies is being published 50 years after China attacked India across the Himalayas. A majority of Indians and Chinese today do not have any personal memories of the war. Since the war was seen as a victory for China and a defeat for India, it naturally evokes different sentiments in the two countries. For China, it was a punitive strike to teach India a lesson, to make it accept a lower position in the hierarchy of nations and, perhaps, an opportunity to convey its strength to the world at large, and particularly to the two superpowers of the day.

• Rumel Dahiya
• October 2012
• Journal of Defence Studies

This article will argue that the legacy of the 1962 Sino-Indian War continues to affect China’s policy towards India even today. The three factors that led to China’s decision in 1962 to attack India—the status of Tibet, the militarization of their unresolved border and fears of containment—are present even today, albeit in slightly modified forms. This is not to argue that another Sino-Indian War is imminent because the larger strategic context within which China’s leaders took the decision to attack India in 1962 has changed.

• Manjeet S Pardesi
• October 2012
• Journal of Defence Studies

The Army, being the largest service and fielding the largest array of equipment, needs to improve its own processes by carrying out an internal analysis and taking effective steps to speed up the procurement process.

• Rumel Dahiya
• October 11, 2012
• Issue Brief

Even as imagined and real cyber security threats scale new heights, the story coming out of the recently concluded Second International Conference on Cyberspace in Budapest was one of a widening gulf between countries, notwithstanding the stated intent of bridging differences through dialogue.

• Cherian Samuel
• October 11, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Episodes in the modern military history of a nation need to assist in deriving lessons. At the same time, due to reasons such as fading public memory, local discourse in the area of conflict, non-availability of archival data, poor recording of history, and over-securitisation leads to the creation of myths. This article discusses tactics of victory employed by the Chinese in the 1962 Sino-Indian War. It then assesses the need to sustain capacity for mobility in the Himalayas. It also highlights the fact that local perceptions have not been understood at the national level.

• P. K. Gautam
• October 2012
• Journal of Defence Studies

This Issue Brief presents the historical and legal debate surrounding the dispute and in the process underscores the inconsistencies and weaknesses in the Chinese claims.

• Prashant Kumar Singh
• October 10, 2012
• Issue Brief

There is a need to debate both the necessity and desirability of nuclear disarmament without being burdened by India’s idealistic aspirations and unfounded assumptions about the heft that this premature superpower carries in international politics.

• Yogesh Joshi
• October 10, 2012
• Issue Brief

INS Sudarshini is undertaking the goodwill mission to commemorate 20 years of friendship between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations which falls in December 2012.

• Riddhi Shah
• October 10, 2012
• IDSA Comments

Normative credibility bestows on the Indian and French quest for foreign policy independence the uniqueness not granted to any other bilateral nuclear relationship operating in opposition to the non-proliferation regime.

• Jayita Sarkar
• October 10, 2012
• IDSA Comments

How have commentators perceived India’s defeat in the Sino-Indian border conflict of 1962? What were its underlying reasons? Can the entire blame be cast on China for its surprise attack? Or, were India’s thoughtless actions also responsible? After touching on these questions, this article describes the defence reforms undertaken by India after the border conflict in 1962 in the light of the shortcomings and deficiencies highlighted.

• P. R. Chari
• October 2012
• Journal of Defence Studies