The military has been an integral part of Pakistan’s survival since the formation of that nation state. The idea of the country was based on a united Islamic religion, but series of events dampened the nation’s integrity. In the absence of robust political institutions to promote democracy, the bureaucratic and military apparatus made inroads into polity and expanded their role as dominant powerful elite in the initial years after independence.

• Karnika Jain |
• October–December 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The objective of this article is to analyse the role of language and culture in the creation of Bangladesh. The ethno-linguistic identity of the people

• Dorothy Deb |
• October–December 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Introduction

• Sandeep Unnithan |
• October–December 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

This article looks at the real issues that were responsible for destabilising the centre of gravity of Pakistan Army in the eastern sector. Lieutenant

• Rajesh Isser |
• October–December 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The only unfettered use of air power in India’s wars was in 1971, and it produced disproportionate and decisive outcomes. IAF’s air strategy, the extent of its role in contributing to the failure of Pakistan’s strategy in the west, and the vast range of operations carried out towards the surface war on both fronts simultaneously, are relatively unknown.

• Diptendu Choudhury |
• October–December 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The India–Pakistan War of 1971 happened at the time when the US was developing a new balance of power relationship in Asia with US-ChinaPakistan at its core. This new balance of power initiative was based on the United States’ ‘Opening to China’ through secret diplomacy with the help of Pakistan, and this resulted in a convergence of interests of US, China and Pakistan.

• Saroj Bishoyi |
• October–December 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

While discussing the roots of strategic culture of any country, it is important to understand its core belief systems, enshrined in its spiritual, philosophical, political and military treatises that may have played a fundamental role in shaping its collective psyche and by extension, its patterns of perception and behaviour.

• Adil Rasheed |
• July-September 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Constructivism argues that the behaviour of actors in international politics is shaped by factors like identity, norms, rules, etc. Though it has been well argued that these factors shape and sometimes regulate the behaviours of political actors, not much has been written about the formation of such norms and how the identity of a political actor becomes operational through them.

• Nazir Ahmad Mir |
• July-September 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Kamandaka’s Nitisara was composed after the classic and the only surviving root text of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Both the texts are important milestones in Indic heritage and tradition of political science. They share many fundamental and enduring similarities in concepts and vocabulary. There are also dissimilarities and some unique features such as Kamandaka’s strategy of Upeksha (neglect, diplomatic indifference) reused and revived during the Indian freedom struggle.

• P. K. Gautam |
• July-September 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Existing scholarship on India’s strategic culture pronounces on it either based almost entirely on India’s post-independence strategic behaviour with some references to the pre-independence period or on select historical experiences and texts. For a large part of its history, however, the Indian sub-continent has been under ‘regional’ rulers, ranging from small to very large kingdoms. There are traditions that emanate from them that are as much part of the Indian strategic culture as the pan-Indian phenomena.

• Arpita Anant |
• July-September 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies