Journal of Defence Studies

Against All Odds: The Forgotten Tales of Independent India’s Tryst with Peacekeeping

There is a part of history that many in India are not familiar with today. This article is an account of Independent India’s first overseas mission under the UN – The unique role that the Indian military played in the Korean conflict.

Four Decades of UNIFIL: Mandates, Contributions and Challenges

Established in 1978 with the objective of ensuring Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been a key factor in maintaining stability along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon since then. There are divergent views on the achievements of the mission after more than four decades of its deployment.

Nation-building: A Case for Armed Forces in Post-conflict Peacebuilding

Indian peacekeeping forces have served the cause of international peacekeeping for over 70 years and have logged not just an enviable record doing so, but have garnered a huge bank of institutional knowledge on post-conflict transitions. With the country on the cusp of becoming a power centre in the international comity of nations, it is imperative to recognise and utilise this knowledge for the armed forces to contribute to nation-building. The author argues for an enhanced role for the armed forces in post-intervention and fragile transition governance operations.

Uniformed Women in UN Peacekeeping Operations: An Assessment of India’s Contribution

The defect in the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 has occurred by viewing rationales for increasing uniformed women peacekeepers from the instrumentalist perspective. The slow rate of increase in uniformed women peacekeepers is not solely because of the low contribution by developing countries.

Yeshi Choedon |
July-September 2022 |
Journal of Defence Studies

Multidimensional Peacekeeping Protection Mandate and Recalibration of the UN Military Peacekeepers

The United Nations has introduced a layered approach to UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) with wide-ranging enablers based on many reviews. Accordingly, a new resolution on the protection of civilians (POC) was adopted by the UN Security Council in 1999. The study attempts to understand the complexities of multidimensional PKOs, POC, 2019 policy, specific role of the UN military force and the need for new structuring and training of the UN military presence in the mission areas.

Assessment of India’s UN Missions and Impact on Host Nations

Multifunctional peace operations under the umbrella of United Nations (UN) have become an integral part of the global society to the extent that they are now one of the major regulating institutions of international relations.

Sino-Russian Cooperation and Competition in Central Asia

The Central Asian region with its five post-Soviet republics is geopolitically important for its proximity to Afghanistan, West Asia, China, Russia and the Caucasus. These republics have been wooed by many powers keen to gain access to their rich resources. Russia, the regional hegemon has been slipping in the economic domain, while China’s fortunes and national power are on the rise. This article seeks to examine the standing of these two powers that are both cooperating and competing in Central Asia and suggest the way ahead for India

Combat Stress in Conflicts: Home and Abroad

International peacekeeping operations have been one of the hallmark developments in the post-Cold War era. While it is true that these operations started almost immediately after the end of World War II, they really gathered momentum post the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. The shadow of veto by warring permanent members gave way to cooperation and greater consensus emerged to solve the world’s problems in trouble spots through United Nations (UN)-led multinational peacekeeping operations. The UN peacekeeping has a long but checkered history.

Belarus: Russia’s Cat’s Paw

Belarus has managed to escape the scanner of major countries reserved for rogue nations despite blatant violations of the laid-down international rules. Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, despite his moral credentials badly shaken after trumped up elections in 2020 still seems to be holding firm ground due to the unstinted support offered by Russia, an acknowledged military powerhouse.

Recalling Air Power in the Indian Context

With the announcement of the proposed theaterisation of the existing structure of the armed forces, there have been numerous exchanges of ideas, formal and informal discourses, official and unofficial exchange of views and perspectives in recent months. During such exchanges, a standpoint of equating the Air Force of a nation with the Artillery has emerged and it requires to be put in a proper perspective. Indian military history has unfortunately not highlighted the lethality and importance of air power, which is the root cause for incorrect understanding of air power.