Accession Number:

ADA326681

Title:

India's Nuclear Weapons Posture: The End of Ambiguity?

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis,

Corporate Author:

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA

Personal Author(s):

• Davis, Scott D.

Report Date:

1996-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

109.0

Abstract:

This thesis examines the future of Indias nuclear weapons posture. Since testing a nuclear device in 1974, India been able to produce weapons material within its civilian nuclear power program. Despite having this nuclear weapons capability, India prefers to maintain an ambiguous nuclear posture. New pressures in the post-cold war era -- the loss of the Soviet Union as a strategic ally, the indefinite extension of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the rise of Hindu nationalism, and Indias growing participation in the global economy -- have the potential to derail Indias current nuclear policy. This thesis identifies the domestic and international pressures on India, and assesses the prospects for India to retain its ambiguous policy, renounce the nuclear option, or assemble an overt nuclear arsenal.

Descriptors:

• *NUCLEAR WEAPONS
• *INDIA
• *INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
• NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
• NUCLEAR FORCES(MILITARY)
• POLICIES
• NATIONAL SECURITY
• MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND CONTROL
• ECONOMIC IMPACT
• GOVERNMENT(FOREIGN)
• STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
• THESES
• MILITARY CAPABILITIES
• THREAT EVALUATION
• GEOPOLITICS
• INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Subject Categories:

• Government and Political Science
• Nuclear Weapons

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE