Overview

The conventional wisdom, based on realist premises, is that nuclear weapons are an irreversible reality in South Asia, and that efforts to denuclearize the subcontinent are a futile endeavor. As a result, real nuclear arms control in South Asia remains elusive and scholars continue focusing their efforts on how to achieve crisis stability and deterrence stability in future Indo-Pakistani confrontations. However, they tend to analyze India and Pakistan’s nuclear diplomacy as if the nuclear competition occurred in complete isolation from the changing dynamics of the international social environment. 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mario E. Carranza
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield
Dimensions:   Width: 15.90cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 23.70cm
Weight:   0.603kg
ISBN:  

9781442245617

ISBN 10:   1442245611
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   15 July 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations List of Figures and Tables Chapter 1: Exploring Nuclear Reversals and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Norm Chapter 2: An Impossible Game: The Myth of Stable Nuclear Deterrence in South Asia Chapter 3: International Relations Theories and Indo-Pakistani Nuclear Relations Chapter 4: Explaining and Forecasting Nuclear Reversals in South Asia: A Constructivist Framework Chapter 5: A Critique of U.S. Nonproliferation Policy toward South Asia during the Bush and Obama Administrations Chapter 6: Normalization and the Future of Indo-Pakistani Nuclear Relations Chapter 7: Conclusion: Indo-Pakistani Nuclear Relations as a Global Issue. Constructivism and the Road to a Nuclear-weapon-free South Asia References About the Author Index

Reviews

A thoughtful and well-wrought examination of the India-Pakistan nuclear relationship that offers hope that New Delhi and Islamabad may, in time, retreat from their nuclear stand-off. Through the robust application of the international relations theory, with an emphasis on constructivism, Carranza shows that the two states' nuclear confrontation is not an inescapable dilemma, but one that can become more tractable over time, in particular, because of the influence of global norms against nuclear armaments. Students of IR theory will find Carranza's in-depth application of this scholarly tool to a specific, high-profile case to be of particular value. -- Leonard S. Spector, deputy director, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies Carranza has written the most innovative assessment of South Asian nuclearization ever. Here at last the region has been released from the realist stranglehold. The result is the first completely persuasive explanation of why and how South Asian nuclear dangers can be averted. It is a book of great importance for South Asian nuclear policy and for nuclear studies everywhere. -- Aaron Karp, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Old Dominion University

A thoughtful and well-wrought examination of the India-Pakistan nuclear relationship that offers hope that New Delhi and Islamabad may, in time, retreat from their nuclear stand-off. Through the robust application of the international relations theory, with an emphasis on constructivism, Carranza shows that the two states' nuclear confrontation is not an inescapable dilemma, but one that can become more tractable over time, in particular, because of the influence of global norms against nuclear armaments. Students of IR theory will find Carranza's in-depth application of this scholarly tool to a specific, high-profile case to be of particular value. -- Leonard S. Spector, deputy director, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

A thoughtful and well-wrought examination of the India-Pakistan nuclear relationship that offers hope that New Delhi and Islamabad may, in time, retreat from their nuclear stand-off. Through the robust application of the international relations theory, with an emphasis on constructivism, Carranza shows that the two states' nuclear confrontation is not an inescapable dilemma, but one that can become more tractable over time, in particular, because of the influence of global norms against nuclear armaments. Students of IR theory will find Carranza's in-depth application of this scholarly tool to a specific, high-profile case to be of particular value. -- Leonard S. Spector, deputy director, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies Carranza has written the most innovative assessment of South Asian nuclearization ever. Here at last the region has been released from the realist stranglehold. The result is the first completely persuasive explanation of why and how South Asian nuclear dangers can be averted. It is a book of great importance for South Asian nuclear policy and for nuclear studies everywhere. -- Aaron Karp, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Old Dominion University Conventional wisdom has long held that nuclear weapons acquisition by India and Pakistan is now irreversible. According to most mainstream analysts, the best that can be hoped for in the region is that the two states will find a path to a stable condition of mutual deterrence. Mario Carranza challenges both parts of this conventional wisdom. On the one hand, he argues that the situation in South Asia remains quite dangerous and that a condition of stable deterrence might never be achieved. On the other hand, Carranza also sounds a note of cautious optimism. Drawing on social constructivism, Carranza contends that India and Pakistan could achieve nuclear arms control agreements and improve their relations to make them less dangerous. For many years, Carranza has been a lonely voice arguing against the realist view that nuclear reversal will never be possible in South Asia, and this book both summarizes and extends his long engagement with the existing literature on the nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan. -- Jeffrey W. Knopf, Professor of Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA

Author Information

Mario E. Carranza is professor of Political Science in the Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He is the author of several books, including South Asian Security and International Nuclear Order: Creating a Robust Indo-Pakistani Nuclear Arms Control Regime.

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