National security is no longer a matter of successful protection of the territorial integrity and political independence of the state against threats emanating from the external milieu. Most developing nations with pluralistic societies are facing challenges in maintaining their unity and cohesion on their way to achieve development and the desired identity of nationhood. In the process it is found that most of the threats to their security originate from within their borders rather than from outside. While the experience of India has been better than many other pluralistic nations in the developing world. It has failed to prevent the growth of many internally generated threats to its security. Papers included in this volume seek to address some of these threats to India’s internal security, such as the complex relationship between state, civil society and the rights of ethnic communities, communalism, charges in the mode of operation of the Indian federation, caste as an endemic source of social and political violence, etc. The contributors of this volume seem divided on the issue of what internal security implies. Most of them apparently hold the state responsible for generating threats from within, and, therefore, argue that security demands a radical change in the nature of the Indian state, particularly in its dealings with the institutions of civil society. Others have gone for the hard state option by arguing that the failing of internal security are essentially the result of a weak state, unsure of itself and ignorant of its potential. A strong state therefore is their unambiguous solution to India’s continued troubles with internal security and order. It is expected that the readers would engage with the essays and decide for themselves the preferred route to the desired destination of domestics stability and peace as a vital prelude to national development.
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