Transcription of Indian Defence Diplomacy
1 Roby ThomasMP-IDSA Monograph SeriesNo. 74 November 2021A HandbookIndian Defence Diplomacy Indian Defence Diplomacy | 1 MP-IDSA MONOGRAPH SERIES NO. 74 NOVEMBER 2021 Indian DEFENCEDIPLOMACYA HANDBOOK ROBY THOMAS2 | ROBY THOMAS Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, sorted in aretrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permissionof the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and :978-81-953957-0-5 Disclaimer: T he views expressed in this Monograph are those of the author anddo not necessarily reflect those of the Institute or the Government of Published:November 2021 Price:250/-Published by:Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studiesand , Development Enclave, Rao Tula RamMarg, Delhi Cantt., New Delhi - 110 010 Tel.
2 (91-11) 2671-7983 Fax.(91-11) 2615 4191 Website: &Cover by:Geeta KumariPrinted at:KW Publishers Pvt Ltd4676/21, First Floor, Ansari RoadDaryaganj, New Delhi 110002, IndiaPhone: +91 11 Defence Diplomacy | 3 CONTENTSI ntroduction ..5 Section I: PrimerChapter 1 DEFINING Diplomacy ..11 Chapter 2 FACETS OF Defence Diplomacy ..26 Section II: Indian ExperiencesChapter 3 Indian OVERSEAS MILITARY OPERATIONS ..47 Chapter 4 Defence Diplomacy IN INDIA ..54 Chapter 5 Indian EXPERIENCES IN COOPERATIVE 6 REVITALISING Defence EXPORTS ..117 Section III: Stakeholders and the Way AheadChapter 7 STAKEHOLDERS OF Defence Diplomacy IN INDIA ..129 Chapter 8 PROPOSALS TO VITALISE Defence Diplomacy ..1374 | ROBY THOMASINDIAN Defence Diplomacy | 5 INTRODUCTIOND iplomacy as a means of statecraft has not always been within theunderstanding of the common man. It has mostly been a disciplinebetter understood by its practitioners in the Foreign Service.
3 Similarly,military Diplomacy as a discipline has been limited to the understandingof an even smaller community within the armed forces. Thoughrightfully an oxymoron (since the use of the word military construesthe use of force to settle differences, while Diplomacy means theexact opposite), the term and its practice has gained currency with amajority of the armed forces since the end of the Cold the armed forces, sailors of the navy by virtue of their job andreach, while having practical exposure to dealing with foreign naviesfrom a young age, have limited theoretical knowledge in defencediplomacy to back their practice. This becomes more evident with themen of the Army and the Air Force, except for a few who have hadthe good fortune of participating in bilateral, multilateral exercises orHumanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions withforeign armed forces or have been posted to foreign missions or toforeign cooperation directorates at Service Diplomacy being an instrument within the larger foreign policy tool basket of a country, is also practiced by a wider audience outsidethe uniformed community, which includes bureaucrats, militaryequipment exporters and importers, military infrastructure developers,military trainers, etc.
4 This larger umbrella of practice, which, in additionto the uniformed services, brings in other arms of the gov ernment asalso civilian counterparts, is referred to as Defence served in the Indian Navy for 30 years, with my last appointmentbeing in the Naval Foreign Cooperation Directorate, it became evidentto me that there was a need for focussed literary impetus on military6 | ROBY THOMAS Diplomacy to add to the literature already available. This was because itwas obvious that practitioners of all hues, both uniformed andotherwise, normally took up jobs in this discipline without too muchof pre-structured training, and relied mostly on experience gained on-the-job to guide them along. This apparently was not a very efficientsystem of practicing military Diplomacy . By the time a uniformed persongained sufficient proficiency in a military diplomatic appointment, itwould be time to move on to the next solution to this was to help educate the practitioners of militarydiplomacy, and thereb y enable them to start their practical innings onthe new job from a certain take-off level, which is definitely betterthan starting at ground-zero.
5 This would require a would-bepractitioner to delve a little into the basics, including theory, beforegetting into the more intricate interpretations of the required compiling a simple body of work that could ostensiblycater to a broad level of practitioners, including the young officer orsailor on a warship yearning to sail on his first overseas deployment toa relatively senior officer or sailor taking up appointment in a foreign-cooperation directorate. This would also cater to the newly designatedmilitary attach , bureaucrat dealing with the subject or even a keenstudent at the degree level who wishes to expand his/ her horizons inthe environs of practical this and more led to the yearning to put down a short work onmilitary Diplomacy . The attempt is not to lay down a structured bookof training, but to put forth some basic information that will cater tothe categories of people described above. Accordingly, the endeavourhas been to amalgamate the theory and practice of military Diplomacy ,as seen from a practitioner s perspective, thus enhancing effectiveapplication by professionals and understanding of the subject byamateurs at the same monograph has been divided into four sections.
6 Section I is titledas a Primer and essentially delves into the theoretical side of Diplomacy ,elaborating on definitions and tracing its origins in a purely Indiancontext. Within this, Chapter 1 explores the origins of the word Diplomacy while fleshing out the subtle differences between the termsINDIAN Defence Diplomacy | 7 Statecraft, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy , which remain generallyobscure to a novice. It thereafter traces the practice of Diplomacy inIndia from its Vedic routes till modern times. It also explores the roleof military or Defence agencies in the overall diplomatic practicebetween states. T he chapter ends by comparing the military diplomaticpractices of few prominent state practitioners. Chapter 2 introducesthe reader to the concepts of power as wielded by nation states. Asthe focus is on soft power , the reader is acquainted with the ideas of coercive Defence Diplomacy , which includes the terms compellenceand deterrence.
7 The chapter thereafter goes on to elaborate on theterm cooperative Defence Diplomacy and its divisible sub-sets thathave lately come to be associated with the more operative part ofmilitary II, titled as Indian Experiences , examines the evolution ofmilitary Diplomacy from India s point of view. Here we start withChapter 3, which explores Indian overseas military operations, bothpre- and post-Independence. Chapter 4 discusses Indian experiencesin coercive Diplomacy , which are more recent in nature, including thelimited military action carried out by India under the threat of nuclearretaliation by section continues to analyse the more practical application of thedifferent facets of Defence Diplomacy from an Indian context. Chapter5 analyses India s more expansive pursuit of cooperative defencediplomacy , especially within the Indian Ocean Region. The chapterexplains the reasons, impetus and methods by which India and its armedforces have been pursuing this and the capabilities it has managed toshare and achieve among partner nations.
8 Chapter 6 provides a glimpseof the Indian arms import and export environment, which has been ina constant state of flux. The reader is exposed to a gist of latest initiativestaken by the Department of Defence Production to turn from beingone of the world s largest importer of arms into an exporter, thusfulfilling the clarion call of Atmanirbhar Bharat , as enunciated by theGovernment of III, titled Stakeholders and the Way Ahead , briefly discussesthe various government departments, military directorates and otherag encies involved in formulating policies and executing defence8 | ROBY THOMAS Diplomacy initiatives at various levels. Here Chapter 7 explains thedirectorates and units within the armed forces that are responsible forthe formulation and the final execution of military Diplomacy the final chapter, the discussion highlights four specific practicalproposals that could charter a possible future course and the way aheadfor military and Defence Diplomacy within the Defence Diplomacy | 9 SECTION IPRIMER10 | ROBY THOMASINDIAN Defence Diplomacy | 11 DEFINING DIPLOMACYC hapter 1 This chapter introduces Diplomacy as a concept and explains itsdifferences with the often analogously used terms of statecraft andforeign policy.
9 It is important that both students of international relationsand proponents of Diplomacy alike, clearly understand the nuanceddifference between the terms as they decide to wade deeper into , the tools of statecraft and thereb y that of diplomacyhave never been alien to India, considering our ancient and rich culturalheritage. This chapter accordingly traces the origins of these mechanismsin the Indian context through history. It is interesting to follow thesethreads from the Vedic times to one of its greatest proponents of alltime namely, Chanakya before weaving a canvas of stories that passthrough our more rapacious medieval and colonial might be appropriate also to familiarise the reader with the intricatelinkages that the term military or Defence has created with diplomacyin the modern times. It is pertinent to point out that though, as broughtout in the introduction, a combination of the two terms justifiablymakes it an oxymoron (since the use of the military construes the useof force to settle differences, while Diplomacy means the exactopposite), the term and its practice has gained currency in recent timesand is discussed as such in the , waging a war has become an exceedingly expensive way tosettle differences, both by way of material and manpower costs fornation states.
10 T his along with other non-traditional threats like terrorismand climate change has forced nations to explore possibilities ofcollaborative security. T his environment establishes compelling conditionsfor nation states and their armed forces to form loose alliances,coordinate operations, work towards interoperability, therebyfamiliarising themselves better to extend, expand and maintain the , military Diplomacy is now a predominant device in the12 | ROBY THOMAS toolbox of major militaries, thus the chapter ends by carrying out aperfunctory exploration of military Diplomacy practiced by fewprominent world term Diplomacy is a deriva tive of the ancient Greek word diplomaas acknowledged by Freeman and Marks in their essay on per their hypothesis, the word diplo, meaning folded in two , andthe suffix -ma, meaning an object , came to denote documents throughwhich princes granted fav ours.
