BALA 11M ANDY 11M VIVEK MURALIDHARAN 11M205 P.SRIHARSHA 11M211
CONTENTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND NATIONAL INTERESTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND INDIAS SECURITY BEYOND SECURITY : NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND NATIONAL PRESTIGE CONCLUSION
NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND NATIONAL INTERESTS
Power, Interests and Indias Nuclear Policy
Security-related motives are considered a crucial determinant of Indias nuclearization. The dynamics of Indias nuclearization shows that nuclear weapons fundamentally differ from conventional weaponry as elements of power. Generally, it is assumed that a quantitative increase of conventional military power usually equates to a proportional increase in a states political power. In the case of nuclear weapons, this proportional relationship does not exist. As elements of power, nuclear weapons engender a further paradox: owing to their destructiveness, they are frequently described as unusable weapons. Deterrence is commonly defined as the threat of military retaliation to prevent another country from using military force in pursuit of its foreign policy. Deterrence has three key aims. First, it intends to prevent the emergence of crises. A second goal is to prevent existing crises from escalating into war. In the case of an existing territorial dispute, such as the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, deterrence is applied to the latter. A third aim is to prevent the adversary from forcing maximum demands on the state in the course of bilateral bargaining
Elite Perception and Indias Nuclear
Course
Elite Perception and Indias Nuclear
Course
Throughout the history of Indias nuclear programme, the advisory
role of strategic experts to the Prime Minister was based mainly on a personal relationship. In 1998, the BJP government started a process of institutionalizing the governments access to strategic expertise by creating the National Advisory Board, of which several eminent personages of the strategic elite became members. Among the opinion leaders, three main groups are distinguishable: the military-strategists, the politico-strategists, and the scientificstrategists. Since Nehruvian times, Indias military remained largely excluded from strategic decision making. The reason for this traditional exclusion was the civilian leaderships suspicion of political ambitions within the military leadership. The politico-strategist group within Indias strategic elite is quite heterogeneous, comprising journalists, political scientists, political activists, independent intellectuals, members of NGOs and various associations. As would be expected of such diversity, the opinions expressed by this group cover the entire political spectrum, ranging
Structure and process of Indias
Nuclear Policy Making
Structure and process of Indias
Nuclear Policy Making Contd.
In January 2003, the government finally decided to establish a
Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) with the highest competency for nuclear weapons. The NCA is structured into the Political Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, and the Executive Council, chaired by the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister. Next to the Nuclear Command Authority, the post of a Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Forces Command was established to create a responsible decision maker for nuclear deployment and warfare