Arming without Aiming: India's Military Modernization - Softcover

Cohen The Brookings Institution, Stephen P.; Dasgupta, Sunil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815722540 ISBN 13: 9780815722540

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2012

Synopsis

India has long been motivated to modernize its military, and it now has the resources. But so far, the drive to rebuild has lacked a critical component—strategic military planning. India's approach of arming without strategic purpose remains viable, however, as it seeks great-power accommodation of its rise and does not want to appear threatening. What should we anticipate from this effort in the future, and what are the likely ramifications? Stephen Cohen and Sunil Dasgupta answer those crucial questions in a book so timely that it reached number two on the nonfiction bestseller list in India.

"Two years after the publication of Arming without Aiming, our view is that India's strategic restraint and its consequent institutional arrangement remain in place. We do not want to predict that India's military-strategic restraint will last forever, but we do expect that the deeper problems in Indian defense policy will continue to slow down military modernization."—from the preface to the paperback edition

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen P. Cohen is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. His previous books include The Idea of Pakistan and India: Emerging Power (both with Brookings). Sunil Dasgupta is director of the University of Maryland–Baltimore County's Political Science Program at the Universities at Shady Grove, and a non resident senior fellow at Brookings.

Review:

"Cohen and Dasgupta argue that India lacks a security strategy and hence a rudder for its military modernization.... If they are right, India is on track to violate the rule that rising affluence brings rising military power."― Foreign Affairs

"This cautionary tale will be required reading for all those concerned about Indian defense policy and military modernization."―Ashley Tellis, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

"Cohen's unmatched four decades' experience, studying and writing on Indian security issues, gives this book an exceptional degree of feel for the ground. The book has come at a time when a serious and more participative discussion on the issues flagged in it is badly needed."― Economic and Political Weekly (India)

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0815722540
• ISBN 13: 9780815722540
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 247