- Question
- Is India a global superpower?
- Position1 of 3›
- Yes, India is a global superpower
- Argument1 of 3›
India's national defense make it a superpower
India has a strong military and stockpile of nuclear weapons.
The argument
Those who count India among the global superpowers rest part of the case on its defence capacity. India is not a country known for its participation in wars, and proponents treat that as beside the point: what matters in assessing power is not how often force has been used but how much force could be brought to bear should a conflict arise. On that measure, they argue, India has both the manpower and the machine power that superpower status requires. The Indian Armed Forces have over 1.4 million members, the second biggest in the world, and a standing force of that size means the country would not have to improvise a fighting capability in a crisis. The second element of the argument is nuclear. India holds nuclear weapons, an arsenal built up largely against the background of past tensions with neighbouring countries, and on this view a nuclear capability changes the character of a state's position rather than merely adding to its conventional strength: it makes the country one that other powers must deter rather than simply outmatch. Proponents go further and contend that India's numbers are comparable to those of other global superpowers such as the United States and Russia, and conclude that a state whose defences stand in that company is, on any working definition, a world power. One element of that case is contested. India's status as a nuclear-armed state is not in question, but the claim that its warhead numbers approach those of the United States or Russia is not borne out by published stockpile estimates; the weight of the argument therefore rests on the scale of the Indian Armed Forces and on the fact of nuclear-armed status rather than on parity of arsenals.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Since India has not had any military conflicts for decades, their soldiers lack practical expereince and therefore will be ill-prepared in battle. A massive supply of nuclear weapons and machines is helpful in national defense but will be useless without proper training and practice. Therefore, India should not be considered a global superpower based on its military power.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P3] India's military has no practical expereince.