Prabir De & Sreya Pan, Enhancing Economic Relations between India and Mongolia: Tasks and Opportunities
| Date | 01 October 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881720965048 |
| Published date | 01 October 2020 |
| Author | Akanksha Meena |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
414 Book Review 57(4)
point of view of Strategic Culture as a subfield of research, the book offers a
monolithic approach on the subject. Thus, strategic culture is seen as a general
theory that has an overarching explanatory power over the whole national security
policy. As such, all aspects of security policy can be reduced to the basic principles
that guide nations’ actions. It is debatable if this kind of approach should be
preferred. In Paranjpe’s study, the monolith approach enables a wide examination
of the whole Indian national security policy. However, on the other hand, the
focus tends to meander, which makes it harder to keep the study together. The
research field of Indian Strategic Culture has traditionally been generalistic and
monolithic in its understanding of strategic culture as a concept. The question that
arises is if the field would benefit from a more pluralistic approach that would
involve more focus on strategic subcultures. In addition, it seems that there is a
demand for wider fundamental research on Indian strategic culture that would
take as its starting point the question of the very ontological concepts that define
that culture.
In conclusion, the second edition of India’s Strategic Culture: The Making of
National Security Policy is a thought-provoking book. It illustrates well the
challenges that strategic culture includes as a concept, gives a clear general
overlook over the history of Indian foreign relations, and discusses the development
of global power relations through the 20th century. There are also various detailed
descriptions of changes and continuity on India’s organizational culture and
structure in the field of defence and national security, where the writer seems to
be on their element. What a reader is left without is an introduction to the second
edition, which would reflect the feedback and discussion around the book.
However, the book succeeds to be a relevant piece of literature on the field of
Indian Strategic Culture, as the demand for the second round of printing shows us.
Matias Lennart Castrén
E-mail: matiascastren@gmail.com
Prabir De & Sreya Pan, Enhancing Economic Relations between India
and Mongolia: Tasks and Opportunities (New Delhi: KW Publishers,
2017), 112 pp. `480, ISBN 9789386288479.
DOI: 10.1177/0020881720965048
India is actively engaging with Mongolia through its Act East policy which
received boost with the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the country in 2015. India
marks its significant presence in Mongolia’s Third Neighbor policy. This book by
Prabir De and Sreya Pan covers the evolution of India–Mongolia economic
relations and trade linkages. It begins with the evolution of India’s engagement
with Mongolia. India’s Look East policy signifies an intensified level of
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