Politics of Nuclear Competition in South Asia: Motivations and Compulsions

Abstract

South Asia is an important region of the world politics due to various factors, inter alia, the presence of nuclear weapons in the hands of two major rivals, India and Pakistan. Although, the nuclear doctrines of both countries officially announce to have adopted ‘minimum credible deterrence’; yet, both have been engaged in increasing their nuclear and missile inventories to new levels, leading to continuous arms race in the region. After two decades of the nuclearization in the region, it is pertinent to assess what role did nuclear weapons play in the security of India and Pakistan, what has kept the two nuclear arch rivals of South Asia into an unabated nuclear and missile arms race? The authors have suggested various implication of the ongoing arms race in the region and have proposed a peaceful resolution of bilateral disputes to move forward.