India And The Legitimacy Of Nuclear Weapons

This is the first book to consider and spell out nuclear policy options for India. As a major contribution to the literature on nuclear proliferation, this pioneering and thought provoking work outlines the policy dilemmas and options with regard to nuclear weapons available to a country like India. Professor Sen Gupta outlines the options open to India as well as the external pressures on India to go nuclear -- the result is essential reading for anyone interested in the study of nuclear weapons, and policy makers in general. '...his incisive analysis of this subject of great misunderstanding is in itself an achievement of the first order. Anyone willing to examine the subject in depth will undoubtedly find this book invaluable.' -- Amrita Bazar Patrika, April 1984 'The book is factual, lucid and comprehensive...It is a book that outlines clearly the nuclear weapons policy options for India, which from the outset were its claims.' -- Teaching Politics, Vol 8 No3/4 '...coming as it does almost exactly a decade after India's first, and until now only nuclear explosion (1974), the volume constitutes a timely contribution to contemporary thinking on India's nuclear weapons policy...what this volume does bring out is the complexity and diversity of contemporary Indian thinking on the nuclear problem as it relates to the South Asian region.' -- Arms Control May 1984

As the world witnesses a flux in the nuclear world order -- in terms of civilian nuclear energy as well as non-proliferation regime and legitimacy of nuclear weapons, India has a cautious path to tread to achieve its energy security, nuclear security and make its disarmament calls more plausible and practical. The challenges before the global nuclear order have vindicated Indiaʹs position and bestowed it with an opportunity to play a more confident and active role in reshaping the world -- towards a more reliable, democratic and universal non-proliferation regime, preventing nuclear terrorism, forming a better architecture for civilian nuclear trade, and finally to evolve practical and universal steps towards comprehensive disarmament. This insightful book, with contributions by leading experts on the nuclear issue in India, covers all such important aspects and provides robust analysis of the global nuclear order in terms of its implications for India and global disarmament. -- Book jacket.

Using a constructivist model, this study brings nuclear arms control and disarmament back into the debates on the future of Indo-Pakistani relations. Constructivism recognizes the independent impact of international norms, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Norm (NNPN), on India and Pakistan’s nuclear behavior. Even though the NNPN does not legally bind them, it is reinforced at the global level, and may lead the South Asian rivals to move in the direction of nuclear arms control and disarmament, thus reducing the costs, dangers, and risks of an eternal strategic rivalry. After examining the main tenets of constructivism in international relations, the works delves into the proliferation debate, discussing nuclear reversal and U.S. policy toward the subcontinent since the G. W. Bush administration. It looks at the prospects for nuclear arms control and disarmament in South Asia after the U.S.-India nuclear deal of 2008, and the nuclear abolitionist wave during the first Obama administration. It concludes with the contribution of social constructivism to understanding how changes in the India-Pakistan nuclear status quo can happen.

In 1974 India exploded an atomic device. In May 1998 the new BJP Government exploded several more, encountering in the process domestic plaudits but international condemnation and a nuclear arms race in South Asia. This book is the first serious historical account of the development of nuclear power in India and of how the bomb came to be made. The author questions orthodox interpretations implying that it was a product of the Indo-Pakistani conflict. Instead, he suggests that the explosions had nothing to do with national security as conventionally understood. Instead he demonstrates the linkages that existed between the two apparently separate discourses of national security and national development, and explores their common underlying basis in postcolonial states. The result is a remarkable book that breaks new ground in integrating comparative politics, international relations and cultural studies.

The Challenges of Nuclear Non-Proliferation is an exhaustive survey of the many aspects of non-proliferation efforts. It explains why some nations pursued nuclear programs while others abandoned them, as well as the challenges, strengths, and weaknesses of non-proliferation efforts. It addresses key issues such as concerns over rogue states and stateless rogues, delivery systems made possible by technology, and the connection between nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, examining whether non-proliferation regimes can deal with these threats or whether economic or military sanctions need to be developed. It also examines the feasibility of eliminating or greatly reducing the number of nuclear weapons. A broad survey of one of today’s great threats to international security, this text provides undergraduates students with the tools needed to evaluate current events and global threats.

Nuclear Weapons under International Law is a comprehensive treatment of nuclear weapons under key international law regimes. It critically reviews international law governing nuclear weapons with regard to the inter-state use of force, international humanitarian law, human rights law, disarmament law, and environmental law, and discusses where relevant the International Court of Justice's 1996 Advisory Opinion. Unique in its approach, it draws upon contributions from expert legal scholars and international law practitioners who have worked with conventional and non-conventional arms control and disarmament issues. As a result, this book embraces academic consideration of legal questions within the context of broader political debates about the status of nuclear weapons under international law.

In the prevailing international security situation, the world community, including India believes nuclear security must be conferred high priority for global peace and security. As a responsible member of this community, India finds itself prioritising this aspect more than ever before. The volume is a revisit of the Indian nuclear discourse. It envisages a comprehensive and predictable nuclear governance architecture for the future, and discusses how India might play a proactive role in this effort. Please note: T&F does not sell or distribute the hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.