The Politics of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia

An important and critical re-evaluation of South Asia's post-tests nuclear politics, in contrast to other books, this volume emphasises the political dimension of South Asia's nuclear weapons, explains how the bombs are used as politico-strategic assets rather than pure battlefield weapons and how India and Pakistan utilise them for politico-strategic purposes in an extremely complex and competitive South Asian strategic landscape. Written by a group of perceptive observers of South Asia, this volume evaluates the current state of Indo-Pakistani nuclear deterrents, the challenges that the two countries confront in building their nuclear forces, the post-test nuclear doctrines of the two strategic rivals, the implications of Indo-Pakistani politics for regional cooperation, the role of two systemic actors (USA and China) in the region's nuclear politics and the critical issues of confidence-building and nuclear arms control.

Contents: Preface; Introduction, Bhumitra Chakma; Part I Nuclear Deterrence and South Asia: Conceptual and Practical Dimensions: Two decades of minimum deterrence in South Asia: a comparative framework, Rajesh M. Basrur; The road from Pokhran II, Sumit Ganguly; The Pakistani nuclear deterrent, Bhumitra Chakma. Part II Doctrinal Developments: India's nuclear doctrine: 10 years since the Kargil conflict, Swaran Singh; Pakistan's post-test nuclear use doctrine, Bhumitra Chakma. Part III Nuclear Politics: Extra-Regional Linkages and Consequences: The China factor in South Asian nuclear politics, Binoda Kumar Mishra; South Asia's nuclear deterrence and the USA, Bhumitra Chakma; Nuclear proliferation in South Asia and its impact on regional cooperation, Nishchal Nath Pandey and Bhumitra Chakma. Part IV Confidence-Building and Nuclear Arms Control: 'I had gone to Lahore with a message of goodwill but in return we got Kargil': the promise and perils of 'leaps of trust' in India-Pakistan relations, Nicholas J. Wheeler; Nuclear confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan: possible alternatives, Zafar Nawaz Jaspal; Addressing nuclear dangers: confidence building between India, China and Pakistan, Dipankar Banerjee; Nuclear arms control challenges in South Asia, Bhumitra Chakma; Bibliography; Index.

Bhumitra Chakma, University of Hull, UK