Since acquiring nuclear weapon capabilities, India and Pakistan have been beset by a series of crises triggered by large-scale military exercises, a major initiative by Pakistani military leaders to seize territory across the Line of Control dividing Kashmir, and mass casualty acts of terrorism on Indian soil carried out by individuals affiliated with and trained by extremist groups that have found shelter in Pakistan. Another crisis sparked by a mass casualty act of terrorism is widely expected. Seeking to learn best practices and lessons learned, Stimson has published studies on U.S. crisis management during the 1990 and 2001-2 “Twin Peaks” and 2008 Mumbai crises.
Stimson has assembled an advisory group of academic, governmental, and NGO experts to consider issues related to deterrence stability on the subcontinent. Advisory group members include Maegon Barlow, Christopher Clary, Toby Dalton, Zachary Davis, Alexander Evans, Kate Fernandez, Regina Galer, Jack Gill, Thomas Greenwood, Dhruva Jaishankar, Neil Joeck, Walter Ladwig, Daniel Markey, Dinshaw Mistry, Vipin Narang, Polly Nayak, George Perkovich, Scott Sagan, Basant Sanghera, Kathryn Schultz, David Smith, Robert Swartz, Ashley Tellis, and Moeed Yusuf.
Stimson convenes meetings every other month to consider a topic and a paper written by a member of the group. These essays are compiled into book form. Stimson’s first volume of these essays, Deterrence Stability and Escalation Control in South Asia, edited by Michael Krepon and Julia Thompson, launched on Dec. 13, 2013.
Stimson’s work on deterrence stability and crisis management is made possible by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and by the National Nuclear Security Administration.
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