Also, the longer term offers the requirements for accommodating the rise of Chinese power, watching the uncertain political evolution in Pakistan and deciding India's own choices about expanding its role in the region and the world. Dr. Thomas' survey of Indian security provides valuable insights to issues which will become increasingly germane to U.S. strategic interests. Internal security problems complicate the conduct of external conventional wars and raise the question of whether conventional armed forces should be used to crush domestic insurgencies. Concepts of nuclear deterrence, conventional war escalation control, and threatened nuclear utilization to terminate conventional war overshadow conventional military strategies. On the other hand, democratization and marketization tend to mellow these security concerns.
Wars appear increasingly less worthwhile.
Another conventional war would likely be a stalemate, while a nuclear war would be catastrophic and unacceptable. In conclusion, we may ask whether political pressures arising from security problems affect democratic processes in South Asia, and whether marketization and privatization trends reduce security pressures. Such pressures increase the levels of human rights violations, and they politicize the armed forces when they are used to deal with domestic violence. However, the emphasis on economic reforms and development issues in South Asia tend to counter these trends to produce a greater level of strategic stability in the region. This page last updated on 18 May 99.