Analysts of international politics have debated heatedly over
the likely consequences of the spread of nuclear weapons. Most
argue that nuclear proliferation will destabilize the world and
increase the risk of nuclear war. Others counter that the threat
of nuclear war is enough to convince new nuclear nations to
adopt prudent security policies. In this book, Devin Hagerty
examines the relationship between two emerging nuclear
powers—India and Pakistan—to assess how nuclear weapons have
changed their foreign and military policies. Even before India
and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998, both countries
believed that the other was capable of assembling a bomb. In
recent years, their respective governments had conducted
diplomacy in the shadow of those nuclear suspicions. India and
Pakistan have fought three wars since becoming independent in
1947 and their relations remain tense, especially over the
disputed border region of Kashmir. Hagerty presents detailed
studies of the January 1987 Indo-Pakistani cris