Article excerpt :
"India has taken the classical route -- the
military route to great power status. In the
post-Cold War era, not only have nuclear weapons
become delegitimised, but military force itself
is a declining currency of power. Trade,
economics and technology now constitute the
foundations of societal power. Regime stability,
population explosion, environmental threats,
ethnic, sectarian and social mobilisation, and
development of human rights on a positivist
index are now the vantage reference points
against which the security of any society is
evaluated. In this context, India's search for
great power status through nuclear- military
means might at best be difficult and, at worst,
an exercise in superfluity."
My comments :
Note that the "classical route to great power status" has also been a classical route to failure. The 50's - 80's period saw the Soviet Union try the same route to great power status only to fail miserably by early 90's.
Ironically (or perhaps, appropriately!) it is the same Soviet Union (or, to be precise, the largest chunk of the erstwhile Soviet Union) that is now trying to sell off its useless military junk to another nation that is aspiring to achieve great power status by the very same route that the failed Soviet Union took!.
The similarities to the erstwhile Soviet Union don't end there. Of the four "areas of achievement" for India that are mentioned these days -- space technology, defense systems, nuclear engineering, telecommunications, the first three are "holy cows" where cost is no factor, and no one is allowed to question the huge inefficiencies. Note that these are the very same areas in which the Soviet Union was crowing about its achievements (its investments in space technology being driven partly by reasons of "prestige" and mainly by military considerations, as is India's) before it went under! |
