The Defence Horizon Journal - Podcasts

Multilateralism so far has driven the global world order, but challenges like inefficiencies, institutional deadlocks and power imbalances have resulted in its ineffectiveness. As a result, minilateralism offers unique opportunities and alternatives for countries, particularly from the Global South, to come together and engage in a time-bound and issue-based manner on matters of mutual interest. Amidst this, India’s engagement with the Global South through a blend of multilateral and minilateral avenues provides much-needed geopolitical leverage to the South-South cooperation. Minilateralism in particular offers multiple fronts of engagement on issues that concern the region and are vital to global geopolitics.
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The contemporary global politics, marked by a fragmented world order and intensified great-power rivalry, coupled with the erosion of established global norms, has significantly narrowed the strategic space for the nation-states of the global south. In response, strategic autonomy has emerged as a critical guiding principle to preserve policy independence while remaining engaged in an increasingly interdependent world. This article is an analytical account of how strategic autonomy is conceptualised and employed by Global South states amid systemic uncertainty, using India and Vietnam as case studies. It argues that strategic autonomy can be best understood not as non-alignment or isolation, but rather as a flexible strategy which incorporates diversification, hedging, and selective alignment across the diplomatic, defence, and economic spectrum.
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India is standing at a pivotal moment to unlock its vast Rare Earth Element (REE) reserves and challenge the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) long-standing monopoly in this critical sector. Despite holding 5.3% of global REE reserves, India contributes only a fraction of global output due to regulatory bottlenecks, a lack of refining infrastructure, and limited private-sector participation. With the PRC weaponising trade through export restrictions and end-user licensing requirements, India's automobile and electronics industries face supply shocks. However, policy reforms, including the ₹5000 crore mining scheme and amendments to the MMDR Act, have opened avenues for private exploration. Rajasthan, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu emerge as potential REE zones, while advanced technologies like solvent extraction and plasma separation offer processing alternatives.
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This paper examines why militarily advanced states often fail to achieve their objectives through foreign policy efforts despite possessing superior forces relative to an adversary. Based on a political-strategic model, this research argues that the political legitimacy of a state with respect to its decision-making and level of strategic coherence will determine whether or not the state realises its intended objectives in conflict, whereas military capabilities are found to be less relevant than previously assumed. The research employs theoretical and conceptual arguments to provide empirical support for the claim that military defeat may result from weak political legitimacy, ambiguous objectives, dysfunctional relationships between civilian and military authorities, and a lack of flexibility in strategy formulation by a state's leaders.
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Recent conflicts underscore the practical relevance of simulation-based and gamified approaches to military training. From the use of commercial platforms for pilot familiarisation to incentive-based systems for drone operators in Ukraine, gamified logic is increasingly shaping how military personnel train, adapt, and perform under operational conditions. Based on an exploratory field trial and drawing on the long-standing educational mandate attributed to Maria Theresa, this study frames gamification not as a technological novelty but as a contemporary medium for experiential learning. For the trial, officer cadets participated in competitive tactical scenarios using a commercial PC-based simulation (WARNO). Repeated questionnaires, an intermediate diagnostic intervention, and qualitative experiential reports were used to examine learning effects, including decision-making under time pressure, understanding of combined arms operations, and the role of structured reflection.
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This paper examines how external security cooperation (SC) can reshape the political economies of fragile states. Often framed as a neutral transfer of training and equipment, SC is inherently political-economic, redistributing rents, reconfiguring authority, and altering elite bargains. The paper advances a four-mechanism framework—patronage, veto players, deterritorialisation of authority, and legitimacy—to explain how assistance can produce political dislocation, where formal capacity increases while social legitimacy erodes. Drawing on cases from South Vietnam, Afghanistan, and West Africa, it shows how technocratic reforms are absorbed into patron-client networks, empower spoilers, and weaken accountability. The paper concludes that durable outcomes depend less on aid volume than on aligning programs with political realities and prioritising legitimacy alongside capacity.
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Cornered by the U.S.-Israel airstrikes and left vulnerable by a mass uprising in early 2026, the Islamic regime in Iran will go through certain internal changes. These changes might weaken Tehran’s grip over the region. In this backdrop, its relation with neighbours, including India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, will shift. While India will be hoping for the emergence of a moderate regime that is open to talks with the USA, Pakistan will be hoping for a strong regime in Tehran that can put a hold on Baloch militants. On the other hand, an economically and militarily weaker government in Iran will be more inclined to cooperate with Afghanistan’s Taliban government on various issues, ranging from opium trade to water sharing.
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Die „Donroe-Doktrin“ steht für eine außenpolitische Ordnung, in der nationale Macht über das Völkerrecht und den Multilateralismus gestellt wird. Die USA beanspruchen Einflusszonen und definieren internationale Führung primär über militärische Stärke und exekutive Handlungsfreiheit. Europa verliert in diesem Ansatz an strategischem Gewicht und wird zunehmend als Hindernis wahrgenommen.
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U.S. security cooperation analysis relies heavily on deductive frameworks such as PMESII-PT and DOTMLPF-P to impose structure and comparability across complex operational environments. While these models offer analytic discipline, they often embed linear assumptions that distort political and social realities in fragile or contested settings. However, effectiveness in security cooperation depends less on deductive coherence than on inductive adaptability. Deductive tools remain valuable, but only when subordinated to inductive insight. Rebalancing operational analysis toward induction improves adaptability, reduces analytic bias, and supports more durable security outcomes.
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This article examines how Rudra Brigades operationalise India’s evolving Dynamic Response Strategy by integrating speed, precision, and jointness at the brigade level. It situates these formations within India’s broader theatreisation and force-restructuring agenda, as validated through recent exercises and operations. The analysis highlights how this shift compresses warning times, expands conventional response options, and alters crisis dynamics in South Asia. For Pakistan, the emergence of such high-readiness formations underscores the need to adapt deterrence, force posture, and crisis-management mechanisms to a changing regional security environment.
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