India's Security Agenda

Analytical Essay # 59140

Asian Studies
Ethnic Studies > Asia
Ethnic Studies > Conflict

The paper examines India's 21st century national and regional security concerns.

1,283 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2005

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the geopolitical conditions confronting India at the outset of the 21st century and the politico-economic threats posed to it by regional embroilment in the war on terror. The paper argues that, within the regional context of the descent of the former Soviet Union and the ascent of China, India has to aggressively and comprehensively redesign its security agendas, further taking into account the relationship developed between the United States and Pakistan vis-a-vis potential implications for the Kashmir conflict.

From the Paper:

"India's security concerns have changed dramatically over the past two decades. The country's primary external security problem is no longer Pakistan's nuclear capabilities and the potential of armed confrontation over Kashmir, and its internal security problem is no longer confined to the challenge of containing ethnic conflicts. India's security concerns have considerably expanded consequent to both the collapse of the Soviet Union and the former power's unaccounted for arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, and the status of the region as one of the focal points for the war on terror. It is imperative, as Amit Gupta a political science and security professor at Stonehill College states, it is imperative that India redefine its security priorities and design a new national security program which takes into account the geopolitical changes that have swept over the region (1044-145). Bearing in mind the changed geopolitical regional realities, India's new security agenda needs to address the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of China as the primary regional power, confront the challenges posed by the war on terror, bearing its domestic consequences in mind, and reassess its relationship with Pakistan, aiming towards a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict."