India's Emerging Security Strategy, Missile Defense, and Arms Control
Abstract
This is the 54th volume in the Occasional Paper series of the U.S. Air Force Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). The focus of this paper is on the strategic context of South Asia, a region that increasingly sits at the center of United States security concerns. India is the world's largest democracy (in terms of population), a regional power with both realized and additional potential relevance to United States security interests, and a nuclear power still struggling to formalize its national strategy, doctrine, and structure. Stephen Burgess develops the background, progress, and status of these efforts into 2004. He discusses the dynamic interactions across this process with India's regional rivals -- Pakistan and China -- and with the United States. This stands as one of the few serious studies of India's evolving nuclear doctrine that also incorporates arms control and missile defense into the strategic calculus. Therefore, even though India's electoral process has recently mandated a change in ruling party, the trend lines in strategy and force structure, in strategic thinking that incorporates roles for missile defense, and in careful analysis of the promise and problems of arms control drawn here are valuable baselines for assessing strategic continuity and change as the political leadership shifts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA435092
Entities
People
- Stephen F. Burgess
Organizations
- United States Air Force Academy