Book: The Routledge Handbook of Indian Defence Policy: Themes, Structures and Doctrines

 

 

The Routledge Handbook of Indian Defence Policy: Themes, Structures and Doctrines

 

 

 

Editor: Harsh V. Pant

Publisher: Routledge, Taylor and Francis (Routledge India)

Editions: First Edition: 2016  |  Second Edition: 2020

Pages: 444 pages (First Edition)  |  420 pages (Second Edition)

Format: Hardcover and Paperback

Series: Routledge India Handbooks

 

 

About the Editor

Harsh V. Pant is Professor of International Relations in the Defence Studies Department and the India Institute at King's College London, UK. He serves as Director of Research and Head of the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi, one of Bharat's most respected strategic think tanks. He is also an Adjunct Fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in US-Bharat Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, DC. His research is focused on Asian security, nuclear policy, and Bharat's evolving foreign and defence policy architecture. He writes regularly for major international publications including The Japan Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Telegraph.

What the Book is About

The Routledge Handbook of Indian Defence Policy brings together the most eminent scholarship in South Asia on Bharat's defence policy and contemporary military history. In its sweep, ambition, and analytical depth, it is the most comprehensive single reference volume available on this subject. The handbook maps Bharat's political and military profile in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, and analyses its emergence as a global strategic player. It does not merely describe Bharat's military. It interrogates it, honestly and rigorously, across every dimension that matters.

The central provocation of the book comes from a remark made by a former Army Chief, who famously referred to the prevailing attitude toward Bharat's defence as the arrogance of ignorance. That phrase sets the intellectual tone for everything that follows. In twenty-five important chapters, Indian and foreign contributors directly address that ignorance, dissecting Bharat's military history, its frozen defence bureaucracy, and the difficult problem of identifying and responding to threats in a rapidly changing strategic environment.

What the Handbook Covers

Over 60 Years of Defence Policy: The handbook canvasses Bharat's defence policy from independence to the present, tracing how the nation's military posture, doctrine, and institutions evolved through wars, crises, and strategic realignments. It connects this history directly to Bharat's rising global economic profile and its shifting foreign policy priorities.

The Three Services and Their Evolution: Separate chapters examine the origins and evolution of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force. Doctrinal developments in each service are analysed with precision, including the Indian Air Force's journey toward a strategic future, the Indian Navy's expanding maritime footprint, and Army reforms driven by border challenges from China and Pakistan.

Defence Spending, Procurement and Modernisation: The handbook addresses one of the most persistent structural weaknesses in Bharat's security architecture, the gap between stated defence requirements and actual procurement outcomes. It examines why a nation with one of the world's largest defence budgets has struggled to translate spending into decisive operational capability, and what structural and institutional changes are required.

Internal Security, Insurgency and Counter-Terror: Dedicated chapters address Bharat's internal security challenges, from the Maoist insurgency in the Red Corridor to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. Counter-terror diplomacy, strategy, and the outcomes of various operational approaches are examined with the benefit of both scholarly rigour and ground-level awareness.

Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence: The nuclearisation of South Asia and its consequences receives careful treatment. The handbook examines how nuclear weapons have been integrated into Bharat's defence policy, the doctrine of No First Use, the challenge of achieving conventional-nuclear synergy, and the strategic implications of a nuclear-armed neighbourhood that includes both China and Pakistan.

Intelligence, Net-Centric Warfare and Emerging Domains: Chapters on the Bharatiya intelligence system and network-centric warfare signal the handbook's awareness that the future of defence lies as much in information dominance as in platform superiority. These sections remain particularly relevant as Bharat accelerates its investments in cyber, space, and AI-enabled military capabilities.

Military as an Instrument of Foreign Policy: The handbook examines how Bharat's military is deployed as a tool of statecraft, through defence diplomacy, military exercises, capacity-building with partner nations, and the expanding footprint of the Indian Navy across the Indian Ocean Region. The MILAN framework, bilateral engagements, and the evolving QUAD architecture all find context here.

Why This Book Matters for Bharat's Security

This handbook matters because Bharat is at an inflection point. Its defence budget is among the largest in the world. Its military manpower is unmatched. Its strategic geography places it at the centre of the Indo-Pacific's most consequential corridors. And yet, for decades, the gap between Bharat's potential and its actual strategic performance has been wider than it should be. The reasons for that gap, and the pathways to close it, are what this handbook systematically addresses.

For students, scholars, and practitioners of defence studies, the handbook's structure is its greatest strength. Each chapter can be read independently as a reference on its specific subject, or the volume can be engaged as a whole to construct a comprehensive picture of Bharat's defence architecture. The contributors are not armchair theorists. They include serving and retired military officers, intelligence professionals, diplomatic practitioners, and some of the most rigorous academic minds working on South Asian security.

The second edition, released in 2020, updated key chapters to reflect the post-Balakot strategic environment, the Galwan crisis and the renewed urgency of the China threat, the accelerating Atmanirbharta agenda under the Modi government, and Bharat's growing role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region. These updates make the second edition not simply a revision of the first, but a document of record for one of the most consequential periods in Bharat's post-independence strategic history.

Seema Sanghosh English: March 2026