In This Book Some Of South Asia S Best Minds Address Questions On The Political, Scientific, Strategic, Economic And Environmental Aspects Of India S Decision To Proceed With The Nuclear Weapons Programme. The Contributors Include Kanti Bajpai, Admiral L. Ramdas, Amartya Sen, Amulya Reddy And Jean Dreze. While Much Has Been Said In India, In Defense Of The Nuclear Tests Of 1998, There Is Also A Strong Body Of Opinion Which Questions India S Decision To Become A Nuclear Weapon State. The Essays In This Book Are Representative Of This Critique. They Have Been Written For The General Reader Concerned About The Important Issue Of The Production Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction In South Asia.

This collection of seminal articles illustrates the reasons for the spiraling nuclear race in the Asian subcontinent and introduces the principal debates in the field. Authors discuss whether the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the South Asian powers has raised the likelihood of a nuclear war in the subcontinent or reduced the chance of a conventional war breaking out. They examine whether a small nuclear arsenal or a nuclear triad, as declared by India, is suitable for bringing stability to the region, as well as the risk of an accidental nuclear conflagration. The first section charts the evolution of nuclear programmes on the basis of realpolitik, and the second section analyses nuclear policies on the basis of religious and cultural ethos. A few essays turn the spotlight on the role of external powers in accelerating, decelerating and mediating the ongoing nuclear tension between India and Pakistan.

Visions of Peace: Asia and the West explores the diversity of past conceptualizations as well as the remarkable continuity in the hope for peace across global intellectual traditions. Current literature, prompted by September 11, predominantly focuses on the laws and ethics of just wars or modern ideals of peace. Asian and Western ideals of peace before the modern era have largely escaped scholarly attention. This book examines Western and Asian visions of peace that existed prior to c.1800 by bringing together experts from a variety of intellectual traditions. The historical survey ranges from ancient Greek thought, early Christianity and medieval scholasticism to Hinduism, classical Confucianism and Tokuguwa Japanese learning, before illuminating unfamiliar aspects of peace visions in the European Enlightenment. Each chapter offers a particular case study and attempts to rehabilitate a 'forgotten' conception of peace and reclaim its contemporary relevance. Collectively they provide the conceptual resources to inspire more creative thinking towards a new vision of peace in the present. Students and specialists in international relations, peace studies, history, political theory, philosophy, and religious studies will find this book a valuable resource on diverse conceptions of peace.

Nuclear power has been held out as possibly the most important source of energy for India. And the dream of a nuclear-powered India has been supported by huge financial budgets and high-level political commitment for over six decades. Nuclear power has also been presented as safe, environmentally benign and cheap. Physicist and writer M.V. Ramana offers a detailed narrative of the evolution of India’s nuclear energy programme, examining different aspects of it and the claims of success made on its behalf. In The Power of Promise he makes a historically nuanced and compelling argument as to why the nuclear energy programme has failed in the past and why its future is dubious. Ramana shows that nuclear power has been more expensive than conventional forms of electricity generation, that the ever-present risk of catastrophic accidents is heightened by observed organizational inadequacies at nuclear facilities, and that existing nuclear fuel cycle facilities have been correlated with impacts on public health and the environment. He offers detailed information and analysis that should serve to deepen the debate on whether India should indeed embark on a massive nuclear programme.

Since their founding as independent nations, nuclear issues have been key elements of nationalism and the public sphere in both India and Pakistan. Yet the relationship between nuclear arms and civil society in the region is seldom taken into account in conventional security studies. These original and provocative essays examine the political and ideological components of national drives to possess and test nuclear weapons. Equal coverage for comparable issues in each country frames the volume as a genuine dialogue across this contested boundary.

Outraged conscience, careful argument, poetry and political analysis -- gathered here is the diversity of voices, traditions, and approaches that are weaving themselves into an anti-nuclear and peace movement in India and Pakistan. In these essays, written before, during, and after the May 1998 nuclear explosions, scholars and activists from both countries attempt to understand and challenge the nuclearisation of South Asia. The essays are an act of resistance against governments that see nuclear weapons as a currency of power, as symbols of prestige, as sources of security, as moments of glory in an otherwise dismal contemporary history.The collection includes Mahatma Gandhi's response to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and recent writings by renowned scholars Eqbal Ahmad, Rajni Kothari, Ashis Nandy, and Amartya Sen, as well as Arundhati Roy and veteran anti-nuclear activists, academics and journalists. The volume also contains the texts of many of the historic public statements protesting the May 1998 nuclear tests which helped mobilise public opposition to the bomb in South Asia. There is a resource guide to books, films and websites on nuclear weapons, as well as information on many organisations now working on this issue.

This book explores the role of public action in eliminating deprivation and expanding human freedoms in India. The analysis is based on a broad and integrated view of development, which focuses on well-being and freedom rather than the standard indicators of economic growth. The authors placehuman agency at the centre of stage, and stress the complementary roles of different institutions (economic, social, and political) in enhancing effective freedoms.In comparative international perspective, the Indian economy has done reasonably well in the period following the economic reforms initiated in the early nineties. However, relatively high aggregate economic growth coexists with the persistence of endemic deprivation and deep social failures. JeanDreze and Amartya Sen relate this imbalance to the continued neglect, in the post-reform period, of public involvement in crucial fields such as basic education, health care, social security, environmental protection, gender equity, and civil rights, and also to the imposition of new burdens such asthe accelerated expansion of military expenditure. Further, the authors link these distortions of public priorities with deep-seated inequalities of social influence and political power. The book discusses the possibility of addressing these biases through more active democratic practice.

This collection of essays addresses the neglected issues of space, border and statelessness in international politics and contributes a much needed view from the South . Importantly, it asserts that chasms created by borders (including those between India and Pakistan) can be bridged by dialogue, a little analysed tool in international relations.

Pakistan is at currently at the centre of regional and global geo-strategic issues as a frontline state in the global war on terrorism. It is seeking to project itself as a modern Islamic state that can engage both the Islamic bloc and the western world in the post 9/11 era. This book addresses some questions under the broad rubric of International Relations and Security. It focuses on four themes: Pakistan and global security; Pakistan’s international relations; politics and identity in Pakistan; and economic development of Pakistan. Leading international experts have contributed articles within the framework of these themes.

This dictionary provides a comprehensive and ready guide to the key concepts, issues, persons, and technologies related to the nuclear programmes of India and Pakistan and other South Asian states. This will serve as a useful reference especially as the nuclear issue continues to be an important domestic and international policy concern.