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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
India’S Surgical Strikes: Response To Strategic Imperatives, Karthika Sasikumar
India’S Surgical Strikes: Response To Strategic Imperatives, Karthika Sasikumar
Faculty Publications
In September 2016, militants who were allegedly backed by Pakistan attacked an Indian Army camp in Uri. The government in New Delhi was facing important regional elections. It faced intense public pressure to muster a military response. Such a response, however, ran the risk of triggering a nuclear exchange. Ten days after the Uri attack, India reported that it had carried out ‘surgical strikes’ on terrorist training camps in Pakistan-controlled territory. The paper examines this specific episode in India–Pakistan deterrence dynamics, focusing on the nomenclature ‘surgical strikes’. The paper argues that the choice of the term itself is new and …
After Nuclear Midnight: The Impact Of A Nuclear War On India And Pakistan, Karthika Sasikumar
After Nuclear Midnight: The Impact Of A Nuclear War On India And Pakistan, Karthika Sasikumar
Faculty Publications
During the past decade, computer models have predicted that the physical impacts of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, or even a single strike on a large city, would be devastating. The social, economic, and political impacts – although less well known – would also be crippling and would reverberate throughout the world. Efforts to use “Armageddon estimates” to scare the people of India and Pakistan have thus far not significantly reduced the risk of nuclear weapons use in this turbulent region. However, the increasing penetration of television and social media may give members of the public a better …
The India-Us Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: Explaining The Contentious Indian Debate, Karthika Sasikumar, Gilles Verniers
The India-Us Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: Explaining The Contentious Indian Debate, Karthika Sasikumar, Gilles Verniers
Faculty Publications
The U.S.-India civil nuclear energy agreement triggered a contentious debate in India from 2005 to 2008. Regional political actors played crucial and unanticipated roles in the debate. We present explanations for the positions adopted by the main actors and the level of contention. We find that parties’ positions were driven not by ideology but by the compulsions of coalition politics.
Pakistan’S Nuclear Weapons Program And Implications For Us National Security., Michael Tkacik
Pakistan’S Nuclear Weapons Program And Implications For Us National Security., Michael Tkacik
Faculty Publications
This article analyzes Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program and the characteristics of the environment in which the program is nested. These characteristics include Pakistan’s history of internal and external instability; nuclear saber rattling during crises; support for Islamic terrorism in order to advance state goals; indigenous production of many elements of its nuclear forces; possession of delivery and command and control systems with destabilizing characteristics; and finally, nuclear doctrine that appears to advocate first use of nuclear weapons. The article argues that the characteristics of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program generate threats to US national security interests. The article examines six interrelated …
India’S Emergence As A “Responsible” Nuclear Power, Karthika Sasikumar
India’S Emergence As A “Responsible” Nuclear Power, Karthika Sasikumar
Faculty Publications
In 2005, India and the United States announced a nuclear “deal” that would seek to clarify India’s ambiguous status in the nuclear order. The sole superpower appeared to be recognizing India’s status as a nuclear-armed state by opening up the possibility of nuclear cooperation. This announcement represented the fruit of many years of careful Indian diplomacy aimed at establishing its identity as a responsible possessor of nuclear weapons and forging a closer alliance with the US. This article provides a concise description of the provisions of the 2005 India-US nuclear agreement, and analyzes its global, regional, and domestic implications. While …