Indian Defence Diplomacy A Handbook - Roby Thomas

Though rightfully an oxymoron (since the use of the word ‘military’ construes the use of ‘force’ to settle differences, while ‘diplomacy’ means the exact opposite), the term and its practice has gained currency with a majority of the armed forces since the end of the Cold War. [...] The reader is exposed to a gist of latest initiatives taken by the Department of Defence Production to turn from being one of the world’s largest importer of arms into an exporter, thus fulfilling the clarion call of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, as enunciated by the Government of India. [...] It is pertinent to point out that though, as brought out in the introduction, a combination of the two terms justifiably makes it an oxymoron (since the use of the ‘military’ construes the use of ‘force’ to settle differences, while ‘diplomacy’ means the exact opposite), the term and its practice has gained currency in recent times and is discussed as such in the chapter. [...] While the word ‘defence’ implies all arms of the defence establishment assisting the armed forces of the country, which includes all offices under the purview of the Ministry of Defence. [...] Capacity building will also greatly depend on other factors like the level of confidence in the relationship between the countries, the terms of agreement signed, the paying terms and capacity of the recipient country and national interests of the supplying country among others.