Khan, Zulfqar

Abstract
It is argued that, Pakistan’s “full spectrum” nuclear strategy is based upon the concept of proportionate calibration against the perceived threat of a limited strike by the conventionally much superior military forces of India. Pakistan’s strategy is emitting robust signaling vis-à-vis the apparent strikes with the objective to deter the adversary from operationalizing its flawed limited war doctrine. Moreover, its strategic nuclear forces would perform the function of a dynamic reserve asset and as an ultimate deterrent against India. Most significantly, it would convince India of consequences in the case of deliberate escalation of a crisis or plan of a limited military operation. In essence, it also sufficiently reflects Pakistan’s preparation and “willingness to fight.” In the absence of a conflict resolution mechanism, diplomatic dialogue, both countries’ nuclear deterrent capabilities are expected to perpetuate the element of uncertainty especially during crises.
Read the article online here. (scroll down to No. 7 for full text)

Cirincione, Joseph

Joseph CirincioneSummary
There is a high risk that someone will use, by accident or design, one or more of the 17,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Many thought such threats ended with the Cold War or that current policies can prevent or contain nuclear disaster. They are dead wrong―these weapons, possessed by states large and small, stable and unstable, remain an ongoing nightmare.
Joseph Cirincione surveys the best thinking and worst fears of experts specializing in nuclear warfare and assesses the efforts to reduce or eliminate these nuclear dangers. His book offers hope: in the 1960s, twenty-three states had nuclear weapons and research programs; today, only nine states have weapons. More countries have abandoned nuclear weapon programs than have developed them, and global arsenals are just one-quarter of what they were during the Cold War. Yet can these trends continue, or are we on the brink of a new arms race―or worse, nuclear war? A former member of Senator Obama’s nuclear policy team, Cirincione helped shape the policies unveiled in Prague in 2009, and, as president of an organization intent on reducing nuclear threats, he operates at the center of debates on nuclear terrorism, new nuclear nations, and the risks of existing arsenals.

Behera, Navnita Chadha

Abstract
The Kashmir conflict has acquired a multifaceted character. On the one hand, it involves national and territorial contestations between India and Pakistan and on the other, various political demands by religious, linguistic, regional and ethnic groups in both parts of the divided Kashmir that range from seeking affirmative discrimination, a separate political status within the state, to outright secession. Peace has eluded Kashmir so far because a state-centric peace process is at odds with its plural social realities and multiple fault lines. The article identifies the key challenges for the peace process that includes extending its outreach to all the local stakeholders in a multi-layered dialogue with a mandate to evolve political and institutional processes and mechanisms for addressing different— if not divergent—aspirations of its diverse communities, without undermining the plural character of its society. The prognosis in the foreseeable future entails a roller-coaster ride with no clear endgame in sight.
Read the article online here.

Sakhuja, Vijay, and Jane Chan

Publication Year: 2017

China’s Maritime Silk Road and Asia

Summary
The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) can be considered as the most significant strategic outreach by China. It stretches across the large oceanic geography comprising the Western Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the North-Western Atlantic. The initiative, founded on historic recall, aims to build a flourishing multi-sectoral maritime economic network across the entire region with land corridors connecting to the terrestrial Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB). It is premised on monetary integration, infrastructure development, connectivity, and people-to-people contacts. It is also an accepted fact that such a vast enterprise would have politics and security as attendant factors. This book examines the broader strategic threads that are at play in this grand and ambitious trans-regional initiative unveiled by China.

Fingar, Thomas ed

THOMAS FINGARSummary
China’s rise has elicited envy, admiration, and fear among its neighbors. Although much has been written about this, previous coverage protrays events as determined almost entirely by Beijing. Such accounts minimize or ignore the other side of the equation: namely, what individuals, corporate actors, and governments in other countries do to attract, shape, exploit, or deflect Chinese involvement. The New Great Game analyzes and explains how Chinese policies and priorities interact with the goals and actions of other countries in the region.
To explore the reciprocal nature of relations between China and countries in South and Central Asia, The New Great Game employs numerous policy-relevant lenses: geography, culture, history, resource endowments, and levels of development. This volume seeks to discover what has happened during the three decades of China’s rise and why it happened as it did, with the goal of deeper understanding of Chinese and other national priorities and policies and of discerning patterns among countries and issues.

Ahmed, Ishtiaq

Publication Year: 2013

The Pakistan Military in Politics: Origins, Evolution, Consequences

Summary
The Pakistan Military in Politics: Origins, Evolution, Consequences What is the contribution of internal Pakistani situations and external factors in the rise of The military as the most powerful institution in Pakistan? What have been the consequences of this for Pakistan? This timely book sheds much-needed light on the phenomenal rise of the Pakistani military in politics. Explores how the failure of Pakistani politicians to institutionalise democracy as well as the perceived threat posed by India to its survival offers clues to this. Details how the Pakistan military acquired veto powers over Pakistani politics, by explaining how during the Cold War the US became Pakistan’s main arms donor; and later, the regional balance-of-power concerns of China to contain India resulted in Chinese military help being extended to it; and ideological rivalry for leadership over the Muslim world between Saudi Arabia and Iran enabled it to receive Saudi patronage. Analyses how a fortress of Islam mind-set manifest in militant Islamic movements prevails currently in Pakistan, which is a product of a combination of external and internal factors and how this mind-set is a result of perceived threat posed by India and Afghanistan which has made defence and security paramount concerns of Pakistan Analyses how these processes have resulted in the proliferation of terrorism within Pakistan, and externally…

Gates, Scott, and Kaushik Roy

Scott GatesSummary
India is the world’s tenth largest economy and possesses the world’s fourth largest military. The subcontinent houses about one-fifth of the world’s population and its inhabitants are divided into various tribes, clans and ethnic groups following four great religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Framing the debate using case studies from across the region as well as China, Afghanistan and Burma and using a wealth of primary and secondary sources this incisive volume takes a closer look at the organization and doctrines of the ‘shadow armies’ and the government forces which fight the former. Arranged in a thematic manner, each chapter critically asks; Why stateless marginal groups rebel? How do states attempt to suppress them? What are the consequences in the aftermath of the conflict especially in relation to conflict resolution and peace building? Unconventional Warfare in South Asia is a welcomed addition to the growing field of interest on civil wars and insurgencies in South Asia. An indispensable read which will allow us to better understand whether South Asia is witnessing a ‘New War’ and whether the twenty-first century belongs to the insurgents.

Chakma, Bhumitra, ed

chakmaSummary
Combining theoretical and empirical insights, this book provides an in-depth analysis of South Asia’s transition in the areas of democracy, political economy and security since the end of the Cold War. It provides a close scrutiny to the state of democracy and political economy in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Ahmar, Moonis

Abstract
The debate and discourse to change the provincial map of Pakistan by creating new provinces is not a new phenomenon and is considered as a major challenge to intra-national security and to the centripetal forces who still want Pakistan to be a unitary/centralised state instead of a federal state. What is intra-national security and how can the issue of creating new provinces have a major impact on the dynamics of national security at different levels? When compared with national security, which deals with the whole country, intra-national security relates to contradictions and variations in the security dynamics and paradigms in different parts of the country. Pakistan as a multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multi-religious state can effectively deal with issues of security if intra-national security is accepted as a reality and is beyond the scope of national security. Matters and issues relating to different regions of Pakistan located in its provinces can at best be understood in terms of intra-national security. If the approach of major power stakeholders in Pakistan is positive, and they wish to peacefully address issues that cause friction, instability, chaos, disorder and violence in different provinces because of social, economic and political injustices, they must seriously consider proposal to upgrade existing divisions of Pakistan into provinces. For that matter, proper brainstorming by the concerned stakeholders including civil society groups needs to be done so that consensus is reached on the methodology to create new provinces in Pakistan.
Read the article online here.

Upadhyaya, Shishir

Abstract
This article is based on a presentation made by the author at the Indian Ocean Regional Association Dialogue 2015 (a Track 1.5 initiative) at Perth in September 2015. It provides an overview of the extant sub-regional and regional multilateral maritime security cooperation mechanisms in the Indian Ocean Region to highlights the lessons learnt. It argues that while the sub-regional organisations seem to be working well, the regional organisations need to evolve in keeping with the changed maritime environment of the 21st century.
Read the article here (subscription required).

Shoji, Tomotaka

Abstract
This article examines issues concerning the South China Sea from a Japanese perspective. In contrast to its reticence and hesitant attitude in the 1990s, Japan’s current approach to the South China Sea has been much more active and multi-dimensional. The Japanese government has been eager to actively participate in ASEAN-centered security dialogues. The basic strategy Tokyo has employed in multilateral arenas is to include the concept of maritime security on the agenda, emphasizing the importance of resolving territorial disputes in a peaceful manner and securing freedom of navigation based on the rule of law. The incumbent Abe administration has also been active in reinforcing bilateral cooperation with ASEAN claimants, Vietnam and Philippines in particular. How Japan can effectively pursue security cooperation with ASEAN to check China’s actions depends largely upon the overall US strategy toward the region.
Read the article here.

Sagan, Scott

Sagan, ScottSummary
Nuclear-armed adversaries India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their creation as sovereign states in 1947. They went to the brink of a fourth in 2001 following an attack on the Indian parliament, which the Indian government blamed on the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organizations. Despite some attempts at rapprochement in the intervening years, a new standoff between the two countries was precipitated when India accused Lashkar-e-Taiba of being behind the Mumbai attacks late last year.
The relentlessness of the confrontations between these two nations makes Inside Nuclear South Asia a must read for anyone wishing to gain a thorough understanding of the spread of nuclear weapons in South Asia and the potential consequences of nuclear proliferation on the subcontinent.
The book begins with an analysis of the factors that led to India’s decision to cross the nuclear threshold in 1998, with Pakistan close behind: factors such as the broad political support for a nuclear weapons program within India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the intense rivalry between the two countries, the normative and prestige factors that influenced their behaviors, and ultimately the perceived threat to their respective national security.
The second half of the book analyzes the consequences of nuclear proliferation on the subcontinent. These chapters show that the presence of nuclear weapons in South Asia has increased the frequency and propensity of low-level violence, further destabilizing the region. Additionally, nuclear weapons in India and Pakistan have led to serious political changes that also challenge the ability of the two states to produce stable nuclear détente. Thus, this book provides both new insights into the domestic politics behind specific nuclear policy choices in South Asia, a critique of narrow realist views of nuclear proliferation, and the dangers of nuclear proliferation in South Asia.

Rumley, Dennis, Sanjay Chatuvedi, and Mat Taib Yasin, eds

Rumley, Dennis, Sanjay Chatuvedi, and Mat Taib Yasin, edsSummary
First published in 2007, this book focuses on the security of sea lanes of communication. It was a joint publication between the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA) and the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) and is an important book for three particular reasons. First, it takes a step forward in identifying key policy themes that can be applied to interstate cooperation around the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Second, the particular theme discussed is not only central to the economic well-being of Indian Ocean countries, but also to many of the world’s most important trading states, and finally the various discussions within the book raise a host of issues to which regional as well as non-regional policy-makers should give serious consideration.

Rumley, Dennis and Timothy Doyle, eds

Rumley, Dennis, and Timothy Doyle, eds 3Summary
Pan-regional constructions in the Indian Ocean are of relatively recent origin, are contested and remain relatively weak at present. Sub-regional constructions, on the other hand, have tended to be more focussed, especially in terms of security, and have generally been more successful.
The principal purpose of this volume is to critically evaluate the debates surrounding these issues and to elucidate some of the main strengths and weaknesses of regionalism at both scales. The discussion begins at the pan-regional scale with an evaluation of pan-regional contestation, followed up by a chapter on the main pan-regional grouping – Indian Ocean Region-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) – which was renamed Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in 2013. Thereafter, key examples of sub-regional groupings – South Asia, ASEAN, SADC and GCC – are critically discussed in turn.
The principal readership for this volume will be: scholars of geography, politics and international relations; students of Indian Ocean studies; regionalism experts; bureaucrats and politicians both within and outside the Indian Ocean Region who wish to gain insights into Indian Ocean matters; scholars who appreciate a view of regional relations ‘from the inside’.

Rumley, Dennis and Sanjay Chatuvedi, eds

Rumley, Dennis, and Sanjay Chatuvedi, eds 2Summary
First published in 2004, this book is the inaugural volume of the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) and is based on a selection of papers presented at the IORG launch in Chandigarh in November 2002. The volume emphasizes the complexity and historical and contemporary geopolitical significance of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It also propagates the necessity for increased intra-regional cooperation, especially in terms of economic and environmental security, maritime boundaries, sea lane security and ocean management, in the spirit of open regionalism, in order to ensure a more secure IOR. In addition, the volume initiates an agenda for future social science policy-orientated research. The book should be of particular interest to policy-makers, business people and academics, as well as citizens of the IOR.