The US-India Nuclear Pact

The US-India nuclear agreement has virtually rewritten the rules of the global nuclear regime by underlining India's credentials as a responsible nuclear state that should be integrated into the global nuclear order. Using the analytical framework of the levels of analysis approach, this book examines a range of factors at the structural, domestic, political, and individual level that have been instrumental in shaping the recent trajectory of US-India relationship, and which made the nuclear pact possible. The negotiating process as it evolved in the US and India is analyzed with a special focus on how political leaderships in the two states managed domestic opposition to the pact. The author locates the US-India nuclear agreement in the context of the broader debate in international relations over the role of international institutions in global politics. He contends that the successful conclusion of the agreement highlights the importance of strategic considerations in driving the non-proliferation priorities of great powers.

Harsh V. Pant is Lecturer in the Department of Defence Studies at King's College London.