Focus

The South Asia program seeks to reduce nuclear dangers in South Asia by focusing on risks associated with the accelerating arms competition between India and Pakistan. These risks are amplified by the activities of terrorist groups and political instability in the region. The program has championed confidence-building and nuclear risk-reduction measures in South Asia for over twenty years. Nearly every measure now in place was brought into being by South Asia’s Track II initiatives. The South Asia program has taken the lead in analyzing U.S. crisis management on the subcontinent, producing case studies of the Twin Peaks and Mumbai crises,and identifying future challenges. The program seeks to empower an emerging generation of strategic analysts in South Asia by means of the South Asian Voices (SAV) website, conferences, and visiting fellowships. The program also convenes workshops in Washington and in the region on the nuclear arms competition, deterrence stability, crisis management, and escalation control.

Approach

The South Asia program engages with senior government officials and military officers, as well as a rising generation of strategic analysts. Our research agenda is both ambitious and pragmatic, providing research tools and analytical assessments that have great currency. The South Asia program offers a chronology and database of confidence-building and nuclear risk-reduction measures. The program analyzes South Asian deterrence stability, escalation control, and crisis management, and provides a web platform for rising strategic analysts in the region to do the same. Our “hands on” approach carries out workshops in Pakistan and India, hosts visiting fellows, meets with senior government officials and military officers and connects with NGOs and students in the region. The program also convene meetings in Washington to highlight our research and analytical findings.

Pragmatic Solutions

Stimson programming in South Asia aims to expand the number and effectiveness of confidence-building and nuclear risk reduction measures. Nearly every such measure now in place was a result of Stimson Track II initiatives.

Through its engagement with senior government officials, military officers and civil society, Stimson encourages practical steps to reduce nuclear dangers. Stimson has played a facilitating role in the 2005 pre-notification agreement on ballistic missile flight-testing and the 2007 nuclear accidents agreement. 

In addition, Stimson is an important resource for the study of CBMs in South Asia. The program maintains the South Asia Confidence-Building Measures Timeline, which tracks CBMs made in South Asia since 1988, as well as assessments of acts of violence within Pakistan and along contested borders. Stimson’s analytical work on deterrence stability, escalation control, and crisis management is incomparable.

The Stimson South Asia Program’s work is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Resources

Investigating Crises: South Asia's Lessons, Evolving Dynamics, and Trajectories  (2018), Edited by Sameer Lalwani and Hannah Haegeland.

Military Budgets in India and Pakistan: Trajectories, Priorities, and Risks (2016), Shane Mason.

The Lure and Pitfalls of MIRVs: From the First to the Second Nuclear Age (2016), Edited by Michael Krepon, Travis Wheeler, and Shane Mason.

A Normal Nuclear Pakistan (2015), Toby Dalton and Michael Krepon.

Deterrence Instability and Nuclear Weapons in South Asia (2015), Edited by Michael Krepon, Joshua T. White, Julia Thompson, and Shane Mason.

Deterrence Stability and Escalation Control in South Asia (2013), Edited by Michael Krepon and Julia Thompson.

The Unfinished Crisis: US Crisis Management after the 2008 Mumbai Attacks (2012), Polly Nayak and Michael Krepon.

Crisis in South Asia: Trends and Potential Consequences (2011) Edited by Michael Krepon and Nathan Cohn.

To the Brink: Indian Decision-Making and the 2001-2002 Standoff (2008), Alex Stolar.

US Crisis Management in South Asia’s Twin Peaks Crisis (2006), Polly Nayak and Michael Krepon.

Escalation Control and the Nuclear Option in South Asia (2004), Edited by Michael Krepon, Rodney W. Jones, and Ziad Haider.

Reducing Nuclear Dangers in South Asia (2004), Edited by Michael Krepon and Ziad Haider.

The South Asia Confidence-Building Measures (CBM) Timeline (1988-2017).

Text of Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons (2007).

Text of Agreement Between India and Pakistan on Pre-Notification of Flight Testing of Ballistic Missiles (2005).

The Stability-Instability Paradox: Nuclear Weapons and Brinksmanship in South Asia (2001), Edited by Michael Krepon and Chris Gagné.

Text of The Lahore Declaration (1999).

Text of Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities (1990).