Book review: Amit Ahuja and Devesh Kapur (Eds), Internal Security in India: Violence, Order and the State
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231203804 |
| Author | Sharmila Purkayastha |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
Book Reviews
Amit Ahuja and Devesh Kapur (Eds), Internal Security in India: Violence, Order and the State. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2023, 393 pp., `525.
Unveiling the ‘black box’ of the Indian internal security apparatus, an enigmatic but rapidly growing
subject of inquiry, Amit Ahuja and Devesh Kapur’s timely edited volume analyses the effectiveness
and challenges underlying the production, management and impact of internal security. The editors
contextualize the scope of the study within a worldwide shift in analysis, from external security sector
concerns to internal security issues, and argue for an integrated approach which can help explain the
linkages between different involved stakeholders. Given the capaciousness of the term ‘internal security’,
the volume focuses on a ‘statist’ approach for measuring the state’s responsibility, capacity and control
in meeting the challenges of violence and maintaining order, the two principal concerns of internal
security. Backing the need for a comprehensive study, the Introduction draws attention to a diminishing
graph of mass-based violence, especially in the last 20 years. Obviously, the empirical findings are
provocative, but the suggestion is that security measures adopted for meeting the challenges have
succeeded. The book addresses the questions of what explains this success and what are its costs.
Including the Introduction, there are 15 essays grouped under four thematic headings. The authors are
mainly academic scholars, along with government civil servants and journalists and in their essays they
explore the state’s historical modus operandi and its evidentiary achievements in controlling violence and
in establishing order. While the first six essays map the structural and institutional framework of internal
security, the subsequent chapters examine the army’s role in counterinsurgency operations; assess the
function of the various sectors of the Central Armed Police Forces; analyse the federal challenges involved
in gathering intelligence; review the problems of internal reforms; and offer an account of the recent growth
of private security. Together, the essays chart the thematic complexities underlying the field of internal
security and critique the expanding footprint of impunity on civil liberties and on the state of democracy.
The rich fare of the book, empirically drawn and accompanied with case studies and analytical
writings, raises several thought-provoking concerns regarding the reach and range of internal security,
only a few of which can be discussed here. The most striking fact—the absence of a formal doctrine of
internal security—is discussed by Paul Staniland and Sushant Singh, and their essays demonstrate how
such an omission has helped the state to adopt an advantageous, flexible, and contingent approach,
unfettered by doctrinal considerations, but one which has also generated systemic failures and fault-lines
arising out of lack of institutional deliberations. Notwithstanding the successes in meeting challenges,
the resultant praxis of internal security has been susceptible to political influence and manipulation.
Read together with historical accounts by Raeesa Vakil and Anubha Bhonsle on legal exceptionalism and
legislative fiat regarding the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, respectively, the legitimation process
surrounding controversial aspects of internal security becomes apparent.
Studies in Indian Politics
11(2) 342–352, 2023
© 2023 Lokniti, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies
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DOI: 10.1177/23210230231203804
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