India’s Post-Independence Strategic Culture: A Case Study of India’s Cooperation With the United States and Russia in Military Modernization

Abstract

Despite some controversy regarding its usefulness, strategic culture has become a widely accepted phrase in the sense of a ‘shaping framework’ for strategic behaviour. Due to its relevance in attaining a goal, the strategic has become a multidisciplinary term that can be construed in a variety of ways. In the case of India, strategic culture explains why the country has taken a very different approach to national security and foreign policy than other countries in similar situations. Postcolonial India, unlike China or Pakistan, did not seek alliances with strong countries to strengthen its national security, staying ‘nonaligned’ even after major wars in 1962 and 1965. After the rise of the BJP in the Indian government since 2014, although realpolitik and Hindu nationalism provide alternatives to the Nehruvian legacy that has dominated Indian strategic culture, Nehruvianism continues to dominate the country’s strategic thought. Thus, this article aims to access India’s defence cooperation with the United States and Russia, through the lens of strategic culture.