Reforming the Military Institutions and National Security Strategy

Author:Mohd. Rizwan

Abstract:
India needs a National Security Strategy (NSS) that takes care of present day security threats and potential challenges to national security and safeguard national interests. The strategy is all about the way the country will use the means available to it to exercise control over set of circumstances in order to achieve its objectives. Institutions play an important role in formulation and execution of strategy. India has no clearly articulated NSS, and this mainly is the outcome of institutional weakness. This weakness has also resulted in sub-optimal military effectiveness in India. Military institutions influence military effectiveness which in turn affects the outcome of security goals set by NSS. Institutional reforms are, therefore, carrying need of the hour. Besides the difficulty in changing strategic culture at directional level even military organizations are often conservative and risk-averse and, thus, are typically resistant to change, especially disruptive change, since it can threaten the stability of normal day-to-day operations, standard operating procedures, war plans and even career paths. In this article the author opines that both institutions and belief systems have to change for successful reform since it is the mental models of the actors that will shape choices. He concludes that this is a difficult but not an impossible task.

Keywords:Key words: National Security Strategy (NSS), political upheaval, Internal security, synchronization.

DOI:

International Journal of Trade & Commerce (Vol: 6 Issue:1)