PIC hosted Prof. Sumit Majumdar, Professor of Technology Strategy, University of Texas at Dallas, for a talk on “Defence Expenditure and Economic Transformation: International Experiences” on 23rd March. The session was chaired by Lt. Gen. Shamsher Singh Mehta. Lt. Gen. Mehta introduced the topic of Prof. Majumdar’s talk, and shared part of his background and writings with the audience.
Prof. Majumdar began by providing a brief background of political sociology and hierarchy, as well as explaining the political purpose of a state as the collection of tribute in exchange for the provision of security. He touched upon various related aspects such as colonialism, slavery, industry and capital accumulation before moving towards describing the experiences of Japan, Britain and the United States of America with their individual nation-building, defence expenditure and economic transformations. He went on to elaborate on the relationship between defence expenditure and economic transformation, providing the examples of the Soviets during WWII and the impact their defence production had on their economy and politics. Prof. Majumdar provided a background of India’s challenges with regard to not just defence expenditure, but with the strategic aspects of economic transformation.
