Strategic Thinking Archives

MAHABHARATA’S STRATEGIC INSIGHTS: Navigating the Dharmic Compass

Publisher: Pentagon Press

The appeal and allure of the Mahabharata have remained undiluted for centuries. It is the first text that lays the foundation of Indian strategic thought. This book's analysis is based on the English translation of The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, by the late Bibek Debroy. The epic falls in the unique category of itihasa, which translates to “it happened like this”. Drawing on historical facts, its primary aim remains deriving lessons and contextualising these with the present. It is a living text with a timeless appeal. The Mahabharata is a foundational text for Indian strategic thought. It successfully distils ancient strategic wisdom through a combination of descriptive, didactic and prescriptive approaches. In doing so, dharma remains its abiding spiritual, philosophical and strategic anchor, with Krishna as its primary architect. This guidance frames the objective of yoga kshema as the raja dharma of a king, or a state, in contemporary times. The book discusses a conceptual framework for wars. This includes its conditional acceptability, planning process and conduct. The book also compares key aspects of the Mahabharata with the Arthashastra and Nitisara, to identify common elements of strategic thought over a period spanning almost 2,000 years.

ISBN: 978-81-988370-7-3,
Price: ₹ 995/-
E-copy available

Vivek Chadha
July 16, 2025
Book

Interrogating ‘Hyphenated Cultures’: India’s Strategic Culture and its Intelligence Culture

In the late 1950s, the concept of 'political culture' was first developed. Towards the end of the Cold War, scholars in International Relations (IR) theory and security studies developed the concept of 'strategic culture'. Over a period, state bureaucracies were thematised by scholars of comparative politics leading to the concept of 'bureaucratic culture'. Lastly, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, a comparative turn in intelligence studies began to emerge with the concept of (national) 'intelligence culture'.

What Should Define Integration of Armed Forces?

Unless the armed forces and the security establishment take a singular approach to warfighting, which includes evolving a singular concept of warfighting, identifying threats and challenges, and medium and long-term capability development goals, differences that make headlines will continue to recur time and again.

Vivek Chadha
July 12, 2021
IDSA Comments

India’s Strategic Connect with the World

The various connectivity projects put forward by India show its involvement as an investor in capacity-building efforts in the recipient countries across sectors of their particular needs and choices, not as an overarching and imposing economic power.

Sreemati Ganguli
October 23, 2017
IDSA Comments

Indigenous Historical Knowledge: Kautilya and His Vocabulary (Volume II)

Publisher: Pentagon Press

This book is the second in a series of three volumes on “Kautilya and His Vocabulary” as a part of the “Indigenous Historical Knowledge” project undertaken by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. These volumes aim at initiating the study, internalisation, spread and consolidation of Kautilya's Arthashastra in the strategic domain. The four focus themes in the three volumes are foreign policy, intelligence, war and internal security as they relate to contemporary times.

ISBN 978-81-8274-866-8,
Price: ₹ 695.00
E-copy available

P. K. Gautam , Saurabh Mishra , Arvind Gupta
Book

National Security Decision Making: Overhaul Needed

A sub-committee of the CCS must devote time and effort to make substantive recommendations to improve the structures for higher defence management, defence research and development, self-reliance in defence production and the improvement of civil-military relations.

Gurmeet Kanwal
August 26, 2014
IDSA Comments

Kenneth Waltz R.I.P. (1924-2013)

Kenneth Waltz hailed as the ‘King of thought’ was a towering thinker in the field of IR. His two most important works, Man, The State, and War (1959) and Theory of International Politics (1979), provided a framework within which emerged the principal debate in IR.

Contribution of Brijesh Mishra in Strategic Affairs and Security Reforms

The late Sri Brijesh Mishra's perceptive mind and pragmatism in the formulation of foreign and security policies earned him the title of ‘Chanakya of the modern period’. During his long career as a diplomat, he held many important positions and retired from the Indian Foreign Services (IFS) as India's permanent representative in the United Nations (UN).

Cinema and Strategic Culture

As India celebrates a century of its cinematic culture, there is a need to elevate its quality and role to complement India’s power profile and socio-cultural aspirations.

A. Vinod Kumar
February 12, 2013
IDSA Comments

Corruption in Administration: Evaluating the Kautilyan Antecedents

The significance of Arthasastra for the issue of corruption in contemporary times lies in Kautilya’s realisation that corruption in government is inevitable but can be combated through a set of strict measures

Tarun Kumar
October 12, 2012
Issue Brief