Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Past Event
Seminar

How to Get Others to Stop Worrying and Love Your Bomb: India's Nuclear Diplomacy

Open to the Public

Seven years after testing nuclear weapons, the United States recognized India as a responsible holder of nuclear weapons. Similarly, in the early 1960s, China was considered to be incapable of deterrence and unwilling to stem proliferation. China is now an integral part of the Nuclear Weapon States club. By investigating the ways in which China and India engaged in the project of reassurance, scholars and policymakers can draw out implications for disarmament and global stability.

PLEASE NOTE NEW LOCATION!

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Date: Time: - Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369
U.S. President George W. Bush, left, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a press conference in New Delhi, India, Mar. 2, 2006. Bush and Singh announced their countries had reached a landmark nuclear deal.

About

In 1998, when India tested nuclear weapons, the U.S. President said that the country was "on the wrong side of history." Only seven years later, the United States recognized India as a responsible holder of nuclear weapons. Similarly, in the early 1960s, China was considered to be incapable of deterrence and unwilling to stem proliferation. China is now an integral part of the Nuclear Weapon States club.

By investigating the ways in which China and India, on acquiring nuclear weapons, engaged in the project of reassurance, scholars and policymakers can draw out implications for disarmament and global stability.

Theorizing about deterrence has focused on ways in which states establish that they have the capability and will for retaliation. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which states credibly communicate that they can—and will—use their nuclear arsenals as deterrents (not adventurism or coercion). Even less effort is devoted to understanding reassurance that is targeted not at specific adversaries but at the international community in general.

This seminar presents the project's theoretical framework, research methodology, and preliminary hypotheses about the Indian case.

PLEASE NOTE NEW LOCATION!

Co-sponsored by Project on Managing the Atom

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

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