Perception, Politics and Security in South Asia

As the international community attempts to manage repeated military crises between India and Pakistan, this book examines the standoff of 1990, the first nuclear-tinged confrontation between the two regional rivals. Studying the denouement of one of the first regional crises enables a better understanding of the dynamics of India-Pakistan brinkmanship and points to ways of how long-standing disputes might be pushed towards resolution. Unlike earlier accounts of the 1990 crisis, this book argues that it was not a single event but a confluence of actions, statements, and perceptions that interacted over the brief period of four months. Placing the crisis in the context of concurrent international events such as the fall of the Soviet Union, the authors draw out the lessons for present-day South Asian affairs. The book also makes a significant contribution to the debates on the role of nuclear weapons, confidence – and security-building strategies, and the place of ethnicity in contemporary international relations.