UGC NET Defence & Strategic Studies study plan

Define strategy, grand strategy, tactics and policy, and distinguish each with one original example

Classify the causes of war into political, economic, ideological and structural categories and match each to a concrete case

Differentiate interstate war, intrastate war, asymmetric conflict and proxy war using criteria you can state from memory

Build a one-page glossary linking conceptual terms (security, deterrence, escalation) to the domains where they recur

Explain realism, liberalism and constructivism and state one policy prediction each makes about state behaviour

Apply geopolitical concepts such as heartland, rimland, sea power and choke points to a current regional dispute

Identify the main instruments of national power (DIME or similar) and show how they interact in one case

Trace the evolution of the post-1945 security order and name the institutions that anchor it

Map India's national security challenges across land borders, maritime domain, internal security and cyber space

Assess India's institutional responses: the higher defence organisation, intelligence architecture and border management

Evaluate India's neighbourhood policy and its strategic partnerships using a balance-of-interests framework

Link each identified threat to a specific response instrument and note the gap

Summarise the core arguments of Kautilya, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli and Clausewitz and contrast their views on war's purpose

Explain Mahan, Corbett and Douhet on sea power and air power, and identify where each has been vindicated or qualified

Place nuclear-age thinkers such as Brodie and Schelling within the deterrence debate

Compare two thinkers directly on one theme, such as escalation or the trinity of war

Trace Indian military history from the Mauryan period through the colonial era to independence, noting doctrinal lessons

Explain the 1947-48, 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1999 conflicts in terms of cause, conduct and outcome

Describe the evolution of India's civil-military relationship and the role of society in defence

Identify heritage institutions and traditions that shape military identity and public memory

Explain defence budgeting, defence offsets, and the trade-off between capital and revenue expenditure

Distinguish mobilisation models and logistics principles, and apply them to a short mobilisation scenario

Assess how emerging technologies such as drones, hypersonics, cyber and AI shape the revolution in military affairs

Evaluate India's defence procurement cycle and its reform proposals

Compare the mandates of the UN, NATO, SCO, QUAD and regional bodies on collective security

Explain the NPT, CTBT, MTCR and the disarmament debate, and state India's position on each

Select appropriate research designs, sampling strategies and sources for a strategic studies question

Distinguish quantitative from qualitative analysis and identify bias and validity threats in security research

Synthesise all domains into a single integrated security framework you can reproduce from memory

Practise answering previous-year-style questions under timed conditions and diagnose weak domains

Revise the glossary, timelines and matrices produced in earlier weeks

Prepare a current-affairs digest linking recent events to at least three domains