This book is a major contribution towards the field of military culture, one which has had shortage of literature traditionally. While the book primarily dwells on the counter-insurgency doctrine and military culture in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), it certainly provides modular lessons for counter-insurgency operations and military organisational behaviour throughout the world. Austin Long’s analysis tries to answer a key question: why are some armies better at counter-insurgency than others?

• Vivek Mishra |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Japan banks heavily on her security alliance with the United States (US) to ensure availability of requisite military capability in the region. China’s economic and military capabilities have grown in the last two decades, closing the gap with the US. With diminishing differential, especially with respect to China, the US’ deterrence power has gradually declined. Under these conditions, Japan has to develop Self-Defense Forces (SDF) capabilities to ensure that it, in combination with its alliance partner, the US, is able to meet national security challenges.

• Kishore Kumar Khera |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Three key developments unfolded in Japan in August 2018: the Ministry of Defence (MOD) released its annual Defence White Paper; requested a 2.1 per cent increase in the 2019 budget; and instituted an Exploratory Committee on the Future of Self Defence Forces (SDF) with the objective of reviewing the current National Defence Program Guidelines (NDPG) and the Mid-Term Defence Program (MTDP). Analysing these developments in the backdrop of Prime Minister Abe’s top priorities—managing the United States (US)-Japan alliance under the Trump Presidency and delivering on the ‘great responsibility’ of redefining Japanese post-war security orientation—unpacks Tokyo’s key challenges. These are, essentially, balancing between sharing greater burden within the alliance framework to ensure regional security on one hand, and weighing regional sensitivities and deeply fractured domestic constituencies on the other.

• Titli Basu |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

From entering the portals of a military academy till retirement, an officer remains deeply involved with training. From the initial days as a subaltern to, later on, assuming the responsibilities of a commanding officer who has to ensure that his unit is battle ready, the involvement with training is total. Later, in senior ranks, he is expected to put his experience to work in devising more meaningful and effective ways to train the nation’s military to be ready for the next war.

• Alok Deb |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Authoritarian regimes are increasingly taking recourse to sharp power as a preferred means of realising national interests. Sharp power weaves an intricate web of responses short of war, such as coercion, persuasion, political power, and inducements to further a nation’s interests, all the while concealing a long stick. China, in particular, has perfected the art of using sharp power in recent years, often investing large political capital and monies to impose its will on nations all over the globe.

• Mandip Singh |
• July-September 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

A journalist by profession, Kallol Bhattacherjee has written extensively on South Asian affairs and on conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. In writing The Great Game in Afghanistan, he has researched extensively into the personal records of John Gunther, who was the United States (US) Ambassador to India between 1985 and 1988. The author was also fortunate to be able to hold extensive interviews with Gunther post-2014 with Ambassador Ronen Sen, who was Rajiv Gandhi’s diplomatic aide in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during this crucial period.

• N. Bahri |
• July-September 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Taking off in 1940 with the establishment of Hindustan Aircraft Limited (later named Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL), the Indian aviation industry has grown in spurts over the past seven decades and more. During the initial phase, HAL provided maintenance support to various combat aircraft of the allied forces in World War II and, subsequently, commenced licenced production of combat aircraft. After Independence in 1947 and its nationalisation, HAL grew in strength to design combat aircraft.

• Kishore Kumar Khera |
• July-September 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

India’s Act East policy is delivering results its approach towards Southeast Asia. India’s improving stature in the region along with other key geopolitical players has heralded its arrival as a major regional power in the power matrix. In fact, India is in a unique position in the region in terms of defence and military engagement and must explore this potential further. India satisfies all the attributes needed for robust interaction in the military sphere.

• Vignesh Ram |
• July-September 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The utility of the theory of strategic culture to explain the choices nation-states make is still to be convincingly proven. Alastair Iain Johnston has provided a viable notion of strategic culture that is falsifiable, its formation traced empirically, and its effect on state behaviour differentiated from other non-ideational variables. Following his methodological framework, Kautilya’s Arthashastra is identified as the ‘formative’ ideational strategic text which is assessed to illuminate Indian strategic culture.

• Kajari Kamal |
• July-September 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Steven I. Wilkinson’s work on the Indian Army and its relationship to Indian democracy is mandatory reading for scholars interested in civil-military relations. Ironically, despite the voluminous literature on civil-military relations in the Subcontinent, it is still an understudied subject. Wilkinson’s book breaks new ground by giving the reader a distinct assessment of the evolution of civil-military relations in India vis-à-vis those in Pakistan.

• Kartik Bommakanti |
• July-September 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies