India and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime : The Perennial Outlier

"The book is a comprehensive study of India's relationship with the non-proliferation regime, and its transformative evolution from a perennial outlier to one seeking greater integration with the regime and its normative structures. The highlight of this study is its incisive conceptual analysis of the regime as a functional system and its structural complexities, which brings forth new insights on the regime's core ideas like non-proliferation and counter-proliferation. The book also provides an extensive non-Western narrative on the concept of counter-proliferation and its conceivable role and influence in the regime. It breaks new ground in explaining India's quest for an anti-proliferation strategy, which could determine its status and future in the emerging global nuclear order. It will be a substantial contribution to the literature on India's approach towards non-proliferation, counter-proliferation and disarmament, and will enhance the understanding of the impact of the regime's normative structures on India's nuclear decisions"-- Provided by publisher Numerous behavioural and systemic factors have been cited to explain Indias nuclear decisions, though the influence of normative instruments of non-proliferation and the overarching regime on its nuclear policies has not received sufficient attention. This book seeks to address this gap through a holistic examination of Indias relationship with the non-proliferation regime and its dominant structures. The study explores the complexities of the regime as a functional system, and applies the Indian case study to understand the dynamics of stateregime interplays. By dissecting its core frameworks like non-proliferation and counterproliferation, A. Vinod Kumar highlights the conceptual opacities that drive the structural crises of the regime, and the paradigm shifts that characterize its current churning. The book describes India as a unique case of an outlier surviving outside the regimes overarching system, as a nuclear-capable state with prolonged record of resistance (and selective adherence), but ending up seeking opportunities to engage with its normative structures. The ideological and policy shifts that had shaped Indias transformative journey from a perennial outlier to one seeking greater integration with the regime, though, also exemplifies the underlying strategic paradoxes and dogmatic incongruities. The book assesses how these dynamics will determine Indias role in global anti-proliferation and its status in the emerging global nuclear order. 1. Introduction/ 1. - 2. From non-proliferation to counter-proliferation: the regime's conceptual crisis/ 19. - 3. The state and the regime: the complex interplay of actors, norms and interests/ 42. - 4. India, NPT and the non-proliferation regime/ 65. - 5. The routes to nuclear disarmament: an Indian perspective/ 86. - 6. Counter-proliferation: the quest for an Indian strategy/ 109. - 7. India's participation in the proliferation security initiative: the counter-proliferation case study/ 134. - 8. India's role in global anti-proliferation: the post nuclear deal agenda/ 160. - 9. Conclusion/ 195 This book provides a holistic examination of India's relationship with the non-proliferation regime and its dominant structures