Militarism in India: The Army and Civil Society in Consensus

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In many leading third world states, tensions between the armed forces and a civilian government have led to the extreme sanction of coup d’etat and military rule. India remains one of the exceptions: despite great ethnic, religious, regional and economic challenges to the existing order, her military officers have never displayed anything but the utmost loyalty to the legitimate government of the day. This work examines the remarkable consensus of purpose between Indian officers and their civil counterparts in the construction and maintenance of civil supremacy and rule of law. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the personal experiences and reactions of over 100 senior Indian army, navy and air force officers to a variety of professional challenges form their admission to Sandhurst in 1918 through to the post-Operation Blue Star mutinies of the 1980s. These challenges included the role of officers in the independence movement.