India has come a long way from being a nuclear pariah to a de facto member of the nuclear club. The transition in its nuclear identity has been accompanied by its transformation into a major economic power and underlines a pragmatic turn in its foreign-policy thinking. This book provides a historical narrative of the evolution of India’s nuclear policy since 1947, as the country continues its pursuit for complete integration into the global nuclear order. Situating India’s nuclear behaviour in this context, the book explains how India’s engagement with the atom is unique in international nuclear history and politics.Aided by declassified archival documents and oral history interviews, it focuses on how status, security, domestic politics and the role of individuals have played a key role in defining and shaping India’s nuclear trajectory, policy choices and their consequences.
Harsh V Pant, Professor, Defence Studies Department and the India Institute, King's College, London, Yogesh Joshi, Nuclear Security Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Stanford University
Harsh V Pant is distinguished fellow and head of strategic studies at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. He holds a joint appointment as professor of International Relations in Defence Studies Department and the India Institute at King's College London. He is also a non-resident fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC. His current research is focused on Asian security issues. His most recent books include Indian Foreign Policy: An Overview (Manchester University Press, and OrientBlack Swan), Handbook of Indian Defence Policy (Routledge), and The US-India Nuclear Pact: Policy, Process and Great Power Politics (Oxford University Press). Pant is a columnist for the Diplomat and writes regularly for various media outlets including the Japan Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National (UAE), and the Indian Express.
Yogesh Joshi is a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at Center for International Security and
Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University. He has a PhD in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University specializing in Indian foreign and security policy. He has held fellowships at George Washington University, King's College London and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC. He has co-authored two books: The US 'Pivot' and Indian Foreign Policy: Asia's Emerging Balance of Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and India and Nuclear Asia: Forces, Doctrines and Dangers (Georgetown University Press, Forthcoming 2018). At Stanford, he is finishing a book manuscript on the history of India's nuclear submarine program.
