Strategic & Security Studies
Department of Strategic & Security Studies
About the Department
Towards A New World: Peaceful, Humane, Secure and Inclusive
One of the core units of the Faculty of International Studies, the Department of Strategic and Security studies has been conceptualised with a deeply thought out aim and well planned strategy to become a pioneering centre of advanced studies and research in India in the arena of Strategic and Security studies. The overall aim is to intelligently pool and constructively engage the best minds in the pursuit of a more peaceful world and the strategy is to ignite the imagination of all the stakeholders - the policy makers, the academics, the journalists, general public and particularly the youths - with the idea that another world is possible. Inspired with the motto, â??Towards A New World: Peaceful, Humane, Secure ad Inclusiveâ??, the Department is uniquely different and unusual from other such Departments for the fact that here, the main emphasis is on the construction of the idea of a more peaceful world - a world not just with the absence of wars and conflicts but one that is much more positive with the ideas which actually make conflicts much less likely i.e., the idea about emancipation, rights, justice, fairness, security etc.
That is precisely the reason why the Department is named as the, â??Department of Strategic and Security Studiesâ?? explicitly meaning that unlike the Department of War Studies, or Department of Peace and Conflict Studies or the Department of Defence and Security Studies where generally the focus is on understanding war, or analysing conflicts or developing methods and tools to quantify war and conflicts or developing defence capabilities, etc., here, the main emphasis will be on building a viable narrative of peace - a narrative which has the capability, intellectual rigour and practical insight to tide over the dominant war narrative which currently hegemonies the prevailing discourse.
Inspired by the noble vision of the founding father of this institution, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who instilled hopes in the indian populace during the then depressing environment of the dark days of Colonialism by harking on the liberating and moderating impulse of the modern scientific education, this department, similarly aims to rekindle the spirit of hope in the prevailing atmosphere of gloom all over the world - the world of ever increasing violence, deadlier weapons, environmental degradation, growing insecurities etc. This will be achieved by the twin process of high quality teaching and innovative research of practical significance. World class researches will be carried out not just to unearth the causes of conflicts but basically to help locate the levers for the promotion of a sustainable and durable peace. These high class practically relevant researches will inform the policy makers and other stakeholders through the galaxy of students who will be particularly trained for this purpose at the department.
The department, therefore, will not just be for those who want to study strategy, war, peace, international politics, etc., but will be relevant for anyone and everyone who take interest in and are concerned with the goings of the world and want to play her part in making it a better place to live in.
This department i.e., the Department of Strategic and Security Studies is about who we are and what we actually want ourselves to be.
Helping build durable, sustainable and long-lasting peace, supporting for the establishment of an inclusive, benign and enabling environment for all and assisting in the creation of a more secure, humane and fulfilling life for everyone - is what this department strives to work for.
Departmentâ??s Vision
The primary aim of this department is to constructively play its part in helping build a more peaceful world through high quality research and innovative teaching in areas related to Strategic and Security Studies.
In the pursuit of this goal, the activities of the department will essentially be academic with a definite eye on the practical relevance, carefully following the principle â??making knowledge workâ??. Therefore, alongwith cultivating academic excellence in the identified areas, the department plans to have effective and informed communications not only with the community of scholars, policy makers and practitioners but also with the general public at large so as to genuinely promote the idea of a more secure and peaceful world.
The departmentâ??s overarching concerns which relates to the production and refinement of knowledge related to the broader theme of strategy, security and peace, is of universal concern and as such the department aims basically to be international in its orientation, catholic in its perspective and cosmopolitan in its reach though with an Eastern/Indian tinge.
Aspiring to be a premiere world class academic institution with exceptional educational and research opportunities that will shape the discourse in the field and be a centre for future leaders in academic, public and political arenas who will propagate the idea of the possibility of a better world, this Department stands to make a distinct and lasting contribution at the forefront of strategic, security and peace studies.