 "Defence mock drill Operation Abhyaas conducted at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, in New Delhi on Wednesday Photo: PTI")
Both the civil and military arms of a nation are crucial to governance, with jointness — collaboration among services — and integration, which involves alignment between civil and military institutions, as key aspects.
Civil-military coordination varies across political systems — authoritarian regimes see military dominance, while democracies emphasise civilian control. Post-colonial India has had to consciously evolve its civil-military relationship, shifting from a command-driven structure to one based on democratic norms and institutional synergy. Samuel Huntington’s 1957 all-time classic on civil-military relations advocates military autonomy under civilian control. Echoing this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first Combined Commanders’ Conference
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