Pakistan’s Full-Spectrum Deterrence: Trends and Trajectories
Twenty years ago, the government of Pakistan decided to respond in kind to India’s nuclear tests in May 1998. Pakistan conducted six nuclear explosions to […]
Nuclear Issues
SAV Review: When Push Comes to Shove, Will India’s NFU Stand?
Editor’s Note: This piece is a response to Reshmi Kazi’s review of Kumar Sundaram and M.V. Ramana’s article “India and the Policy of No First Use […]
India’s Nuclear Doctrine: Strategic Direction or Drift?
India’s official nuclear doctrine has remained unchanged since its adoption in 2003. Some may take this apparent continuity as evidence of India’s intentional strategic direction. […]
Strategic Pivoting: How Superpowers Galvanize the Indo-Pak Arms Race
South Asia has evoked the attention, intervention, and strategic embrace of powerful international actors over the course of many decades. By virtue of their involvement, […]
Assessing the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal Ten Years Later: Symbolism and Substance
On October 8, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act into law. Two days later, a […]
The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal Ten Years On: The View from Washington
The 2008 civil nuclear deal is the most important episode in U.S.-India relations in at least three decades. From the perspective of the United States, […]
Sans Dialogue, Is South Asia on the Brink of War?
The current political environment between India and Pakistan is not a harbinger for peace. There was hope that the newly-elected Imran Khan government in Pakistan […]
Most recent
SAV Review: India’s No-First-Use Doctrine is Here to Stay
The use of nuclear weapons against a state’s adversary is a critical component of deterrence policy. Understanding the importance of this, India adheres to a […]
Brokering Peace in Nuclear South Asia: Crisis Management and Bargaining Frameworks
Nuclear South Asia attracts frequent international attention owing to the rivalry between the nuclear armed states, unresolved disputes, porous borders, and recurrent crises. These crises […]
Maintaining Nuclear Peace through Third Parties: Implications for South Asia
Strategic literature has generally posited that in crisis moments the goal of nuclear rivals is to deter direct attacks. This has been termed as a […]
India, Pakistan, and the Tussle of Escalation Dominance
The cancellation of a meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers that was to be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General […]
Deterrence Stability in South Asia: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
In a 2014 article titled “To Sea or Not to Sea: A Nuclear Triad in South Asia,” I had argued that nuclear weapons at sea […]
SAV Review: The New Era of Counterforce in South Asia
Instead of reducing reliance on nuclear capability as a step towards disarmament, nuclear weapons states have been steadily modernizing their nuclear forces. Offensive nuclear postures, […]
Brokering Peace in Nuclear South Asia: Challenges of a Multipolar World
The Cold War witnessed multiple crises moments, involving both direct and indirect confrontation, between the United States and the Soviet Union under a nuclear overhang. […]
Brokering Peace in Nuclear South Asia: A New Lens
Every year since 1945, the month of August unfailingly reminds the world of the unmistakable power and dangers associated with nuclear weapons; this reminder also […]
SAV Explainer: U.S. Response to South Asia’s 1998 Nuclear Tests
Why did India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons in May 1998, and how did the United States and the international community respond? This SAV Explainer […]
Should Sri Lanka Form a Single-State Nuclear Weapon Free Zone?
Policy discussions on South Asian nuclear issues are usually dominated by recommendations for nuclear risk reduction and crisis management between India and Pakistan. By contrast, […]