Overview

India’s explosive economic growth and rising affluence have led many experts to predict a major rearmament effort. The second-most populous nation in the world is beginning to wield the economic power one would expect of such a behemoth, while its border with Pakistan remains a potential tinderbox and the subcontinent remains vulnerable to religious extremism. So the resources for rearmament are there, as are the motives. But what in fact has India actually done in the way of improving its military? What should we expect to see in the future, and what will the likely results be? In Arming without Aiming, Stephen Cohen and Sunil Dasgupta answer those crucial questions.

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Much has been made of the emergence of India on the global stage. In Arming without Aiming, Cohen and Dasgupta provide an expert assessment of what India's rise means for its unevenly modernizing military, which is destined to become the third largest in the world. Anyone with an interest in the growing rivalry between India and China, or in the impact that a stronger, although still extraordinarily outdated, Indian military will mean for U.S.-India ties, should read this. This is an important book on an important subject, which is likely to remain unparalleled for many years. - Edward Luce, Washington bureau chief, Financial Times India's rise to power will remain incomplete until it acquires, and develops, the capacity to effectively utilize the full panoply of military power. Although India has made impressive strides in this direction in recent years, Stephen Cohen's and Sunil Dasgupta's Arming without Aiming demonstrates how much still needs to be done. This cautionary tale will be required reading for all those concerned about Indian defense policy and military modernization. - Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The book is an empathetic, objective, and comprehensive narration and analysis of the evolution of Indian defense policy and management. The Indian strategic establishment is groping to find ways and means of safeguarding its progress toward becoming a twenty-first-century knowledge power in an international community still dominated by strategic thought from the World War II era. Steve Cohen and Sunil Dasgupta have brought into bold relief this somewhat inchoate and as yet not fully formulated effort. This will be a required reading for all senior service officers, civil servants, politicians, and academics engaged in Indian security. - K. Subrahmanyam, Indian defense expert

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 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)

Much has been made of the emergence of India on the global stage. In Arming without Aiming, Cohen and Dasgupta provide an expert assessment of what India's rise means for its unevenly modernizing military, which is destined to become the third largest in the world. Anyone with an interest in the growing rivalry between India and China, or in the impact that a stronger, although still extraordinarily outdated, Indian military will mean for U.S.-India ties, should read this. This is an important book on an important subject, which is likely to remain unparalleled for many years. --Edward Luce, Washington bureau chief, Financial Times India's rise to power will remain incomplete until it acquires, and develops, the capacity to effectively utilize the full panoply of military power. Although India has made impressive strides in this direction in recent years, Stephen Cohen's and Sunil Dasgupta's Arming without Aiming demonstrates how much still needs to be done. This cautionary tale will be required reading for all those concerned about Indian defense policy and military modernization. --Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The book is an empathetic, objective, and comprehensive narration and analysis of the evolution of Indian defense policy and management. The Indian strategic establishment is groping to find ways and means of safeguarding its progress toward becoming a twenty-first-century knowledge power in an international community still dominated by strategic thought from the World War II era. Steve Cohen and Sunil Dasgupta have brought into bold relief this somewhat inchoate and as yet not fully formulated effort. This will be a required reading for all senior service officers, civil servants, politicians, and academics engaged in Indian security. --K. Subrahmanyam, Indian defense expert

Author Information

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.

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