Dangerous deterrent : nuclear weapons proliferation and conflict in South Asia / S. Paul Kapur.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kapur, S. Paul.

Series:

Studies in Asian security

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arms race--South Asia.

Arms race.

Nuclear nonproliferation.

Nuclear weapons.

Military policy.

South Asia--Military policy.

South Asia.

Nuclear weapons--South Asia.

Nuclear nonproliferation--South Asia.

Balance of power.

Deterrence (Strategy).

Physical Description:

x, 262 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press : Sponsored by the East-West Center, 2007.

Summary:

Does nuclear weapons proliferation cause ongoing conflicts to diminish or to intensify? The spread of nuclear weapons to South Asia offers an opportunity to investigate this crucial question. Optimistic scholars argue that by threatening to raise the cost of war astronomically, nuclear weapons make armed conflict in South Asia extremely unlikely. Pessimistic scholars maintain that nuclear weapons make the subcontinent war-prone, because of technological, political, and organizational problems. This book argues that nuclear weapons have destabilized the subcontinent, principally because of nuclear weapons interaction with India and Pakistan's territorial preferences and relative military capabilities. These findings challenge both optimistic and pessimistic conventional wisdom and have implications beyond South Asia.

Contents:

The problem of proliferation

Militarized behavior during the South Asian proliferation process

Territorial preferences and military capabilities

The nonnuclear period

The de facto nuclear period

The overt nuclear period

Beyond South Asia

Dangerous deterrent

Appendix

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [243]-252) and index.

ISBN:

0804755493

9780804755498

0804755507

9780804755504

OCLC:

68624057