Amartya Sen

A book on employment policy need not, (there­fore), aim exclusively at those in power. This one certainly does not’ writes Sen. That, in my opinion, is the mildest understatement in the book; whoever it aims at, it will floor. In the range of issues it covers, the amount of information it provides on the existing literature…


Reviewed by: Badal Mukherjee
Vishal Chandra

This compilation on neighbourhood armies in South Asia is a timely academic effort by a team of area experts at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and brings together a bird’s eye perspective of the security environment, geo-political and strategic background under which armies in different countries in India’s neighbourhood have evolved.


Reviewed by: Rana Banerji
Shanthie Mariet D'Souza

Nowadays, when you mention ‘transition’ in the Afghan context, the definite article gets left out and the first letter capitalized; it becomes ‘Transition’, a proper noun and an entity that will produce a new Afghanistan of uncertain lineament.


Reviewed by: I.P. Khosla
Muchkund Dubey

A review of India’s external relations by a former Foreign Secretary always makes for a good read as it has elements of an insider’s view not just from a ringside seat, but as a key player. Muchkund Dubey’s treatise is a scholarly work that looks at India’s place and aspirations in a changing world.


Reviewed by: B.G. Verghese
Antonio Giustozzi

The title of the book is doubly provocative. The first part of Antonio Giustozzi’s stimulating volume paraphrases Machiavelli’s work, The Art of War. The second part is a play on primitive accumulation, a term widely used in understanding the evolution of capitalism but rarely employed in analysing the evolution of state structures.


Reviewed by: C. Raja Mohan