Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday offered a reality check on the modern world order, noting that global trade and digital connectivity have been weaponised into “instruments of coercion” undermining promises of the past that they would act as shields against war.
In that context, General Dwivedi insisted that security is a precondition to prosperity, referencing the trend that global defence spending has crossed $2.7 trillion, exceeding the entire UN budget for sustainable development goals.
“The 21st century opened with a confident thesis that forces of trade, supply chains, and additional connectivity would make nations too interdependent to conflict. Paradoxically, the same forces that promised to bind nations together have progressively become instruments of coercion,” the Army chief said in his wide-ranging address at a seminar themed ‘Security to Prosperity’, organised by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).
“Semiconductors and their selective availability have become tools for hedging. The Strait of Hormuz has become a zone of active contestation. Global defence spending has crossed $2.7 trillion, exceeding the entire UN budget for Sustainable Development Goals,” he emphasised.
According to the Chief of Army Staff, the boundary between security and prosperity is “no longer a boundary” at all. Contemporary conflicts now impose sustained demands, not only on armed forces, but also on industrial production, research systems, and governance structures, the General stated.
“So in this world, fractured, fast-moving, and unforgiving, what must be the architecture of India’s smart power?” he asked. Drawing from American political scientist Joseph Nye’s concept of smart power, he described it as the strategic intelligence to know which instrument to deploy, with what intensity and towards what end.
“For India, it means using national strength with strategic wisdom to secure peace, accelerate growth, and shape the global environment in our favour,” Gen Dwivedi said.
He also spoke of the growing pace of warfighting technology, which he flagged as a critical challenge that needs attention. The cycle from laboratory to battlefield, as per the Army Chief, has squeezed from decades to months, making speed of innovation a strategic variable in itself.
Published on May 19, 2026