Inside Nuclear South Asia (Stanford Security Studies)
"Although there have been a number of good books on the consequences of the 1998 nuclear tests in India and Pakistan, this is probably the most multi-dimensional . . . Very well documented, the book is also a model of the case study method for advanced students, showing how multiple approaches among authors yield rich results . . . This book is a very important guide to understanding the events and processes occurring inside nuclear South Asia, and suggests important ways of thinking about other nuclear regions where states are embraced in protracted entanglements."—Robert Anderson,Pacific Affairs"Sagan has long dwelled on how strong personalities, domestic politics, accidents, and organizational compulsions and screwups could lead to a breakdown of deterrence. His new edited volume,Inside Nuclear South Asia, provides many cautionary notes. Sagan warns once again that the rational deterrence model presumes unitary actors, whereas India and Pakistan are anything but unitary actors. He also cautions that the role of the Pakistani military on nuclear matters is unlikely to be circumscribed by civilian oversight, insider threats will continue to work against efforts to improve nuclear security, Indian nuclear doctrine is evolving in open-ended and potentially dangerous ways, and new complications will arise if and when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returns to power in India."—Michael Krepon,Arms Control Today"[E]xcellent . . . [The essays] are deeply researched and of uniformly high quality."—P.R. Chari,The Book Review"This is an excellent volume that brings together a wide array of perspectives on India and Pakistan's complex nuclear trajectories. The contributors, all prominent scholars of regional security, offer compelling arguments that nuclear weapon decisions in South Asia have been driven by calculations beyond simple security concerns emanating from the military rivalry between the two states. The chapters are succinctly written and they offer new insights as well as interpretations on the nuclear predicament in South Asia."—T.V. Paul, McGill University