Description
IR as a discipline was established, in the formal sense, to study wars so as to prevent their recurrence. The first Chair in IR was established in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. Thereafter, countries at the forefront of international relations and actively caught up in various wars and conflicts, such as the United States, Great Britain, and their allies have made marked contributions to scholarship on wars. A perusal of syllabi on wars in IR reveals the preponderant contribution made by the countries that constitute the ‘Anglosphere.’ However, what has been the contributions to our understanding of wars by regions and countries beyond the Anglosphere? This paper shines light on India, a country with a strong foundation on thinking about wars and conflict by way of Kautilya whose Arthashastra is seen to be at par with The Prince and The Art of War. Over the last eight decades, India has fought wars of various kinds. This has seen India maintain one of the largest armed forces in the world. How have these experiences translated into scholarship on war by Indian scholars? What kind of scholarship on wars are used to make sense of India’s wars? What kind of conceptual and theoretical contributions have been made by scholars in India? At a time when the non-West is seeking to redress the imbalance in knowledge production on various fronts, how has India, one of the prominent figures in the Global South, shaped thinking on one of the prominent and central activities of IR – wars? Based on its experiences, what does it have to offer to one's understanding of wars?
