Securing India: Vif Perspective

Geopolitics is witnessing a flux not seen in decades, treading an uncertain path in the hope to arrive at a new equilibrium. India's status in this equipoise, as and when it is achieved will be decided by how deftly it deals with the changes the world is witnessing today–a combination of weakening of US as a global power and its inward-looking approach; the rise of China and its extraordinary, even dubious support for Pakistan; the 'great game' being played in West Asia and Afghanistan–not to forget, India's own challenges of manoeuvring the largest democracy in the world–the nation of 1.3 billion–on the path of strength and development.

If there could be a group of experts who could analyse this complex state of shifting loyalties, brokering of alliances and reversal of strategies, in an illuminating manner, this publication by one of India's most respected think tanks, Vivekananda International Foundation, brings them all together. They decode not just the conventional security scenario but focus on the newer frontiers of competition and cooperation–cyber security and space–as also on India's economy, environment and what has been one of its finest gifts to the world–civilisational vision.

India's most formidable practitioners of statecraft–diplomats, defence professionals, along with some of the most respected scholars, provide a highly analytical and authoritative vision, not just for securing India but in understanding the current geostrategic realpolitik, as it pans out, making this an essential reading, not just for professionals engaged in diplomacy and security, but for the uninitiated as well.