The core argument this article makes is that India’s maritime worldview and role conceptions have not only been evolving since the 1950s, but they have also been closely interlinked with how policymakers thought about India’s regional identity and the state’s economic capacity to release resources towards sea power. Today, there are three maritime role conceptions that are vying for the apex’s strategic attention, and they are reflective of a deeper role flux in India’s regional identity.

Recent debates by former officials and analysts on India’s nuclear doctrine highlight certain credibility problems. Two inter-related pillars of the doctrine—the pledge of ‘No-First Use’ (NFU) and the assurance of a ‘massive retaliation’ response to a nuclear strike—have been scrutinised.1 The backdrop shaping the debate is the pressing need to discover options to produce a de-escalation or deter an escalation in Pakistan’s sub-conventional war. This is the context for the ongoing contestations around India’s nuclear doctrine.

The Maritime Silk Road (MSR) idea is part of this wider attempt by China to construct multiple lines of communication to its economic heartland in eastern China since the early 2000s. The underlying aim of such a geostrategy is to also develop inner Chinese provinces and shape China’s regional periphery by exercising economic, political and cultural Influence.

Two recent events exemplify India’s geopolitical dilemma. In early April 2013, it was reported that Chinese submarines had been conducting forays in the Indian Ocean that were apparently picked up by US Navy sonar.1 A few weeks later, there was a Chinese intrusion in the western sector where a platoon of Chinese troops entered the Depsang Valley area of eastern Ladakh.2 While the status quo ante was peacefully attained, the Ladakh incident is a vivid reminder of the abiding implications of an unresolved Himalayan dispute.

German V-1 rockets raining over London and Russian self-propelled Katyusha rockets pulverising German forces on the eastern front are enduring images of the Second World War. After 1945, it seemed the rudimentary technologies embodied in these projectiles were poised to take off. Instead, it would take several decades for these rockets to transform into smart and lethal battlefield weapons. Cruise Missiles: Evolution, Proliferation and Future traces the emergence and evolution of this unsung weapon system, and makes a timely and useful contribution to contemporary security literature.

Arvind Subramanian’s recent book, Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance, has renewed interest in measuring the potential of emerging powers. Subramanian argues that projections of gross domestic product (GDP), trade and creditor status make China’s future dominance inevitable.