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Some Thoughts about K. Subrahmanyam

I vividly remember my first encounter with K. Subrahmanyam in 1974 in Washington shortly after India had exploded its underground nuclear device. I was then country director for India in the state department and we had a lively and at times contentious debate over the wisdom of the test. As you would expect, Subbu stoutly defended India's action while scathingly criticising US policy. ‘Who do you Americans think you are, telling us what to do and trying to make us second class nuclear citizens’, I recall him saying.

K. Subrahmanyam and Indian Strategic Thought

In the end an intellectual's life is judged not only by those who mourn his passing, but also by those who challenged his ideas. K. Subrahmanyam, the undisputed doyen of India's strategic community, had his share of both, and his death at the age of 82 on 2 February 2011 leaves behind an immeasurable void. In his professional career, K. Subrahmanyam faced much criticism for his views, at various times, from within the military and among civil servants, the academic community and foreign observers.

On Subrahmanyam

The best way to remember and commemorate K. Subrahmanyam is to do it in a way he would have approved – by examining his own career and ideas, and their impact on the larger questions of Indian security and defence policy, and India's relations with the rest of the world. Above all, we need to ask why he was so important. To do this would require much more than a brief note. It would require a deep and broad discussion, which will hopefully include a biography by someone who takes his life and work seriously but does not engage in uncritical adulation.

India–Russia strategic partnership: Challenges and Prospects by Nivedita Das Kundu (ed.), Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 167, Rs. 595., ISBN 9788171888276.

The Genesis of South Asian Nuclear Deterrence: Pakistan’s Perspective by Naeem Salik Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2009, pp. 324, Rs. 495. ISBN 9780195477160

The Persistent Advocate and the Use of Force The Impact of the United States upon the Jus ad Bellum in the Post-Cold War Era by Christian Henderson Ashgate, UK, 2010, pp. 211, £65. ISBN 9781409401735

Popular Culture, Geopolitics, and Identity by Jason Dittmer Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., New York, 2010, pp. xxii + 181, ISBN 9780742556348

Indian Nuclear Deterrence: Its Evolution, Development and Implications for South Asian Security by Zafar Iqbal Cheema Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2010, pp. 609, Rs 995. ISBN 9780195979039

Whither Asia? International Relations in Asia by David Shambaugh and Michael Yahuda (eds), Pentagon Press, London, 2010, pp. 383. ISBN 9780742556959.

Strategic Importance of Turkmenistan for India

This article examines the strategic importance of Turkmenistan for India in respect of: energy resources; transit potential; and proximity to Afghanistan and Iran. It argues that India's economic potential, its liberal-democratic values, its pluralistic structure, secular fabric, military strength, strong financial, scientific and technological capabilities make it the most desirable partner for all the five Central Asian republics.