ABSTRACT
Why did India acquire nuclear weapons? The motives underlying India’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons program are the subject of considerable debate. Scholars emphasize an array of factors ranging from internal political motives, to traditional defense concerns, to normative issues, to the psychology of national leaders. Most scholars, however, place the greatest emphasis on domestic politics, national security, or some combination thereof. For example, George Perkovich argues that domestic politics was the dominant factor driving India’s nuclear weapons program. Perkovich particularly highlights the symbolic importance of nuclear weapons given India’s status as a developing, postcolonial state; politicians’ exploitation of the Indian nuclear program for partisan gain; and the role of the Indian nuclear and missile establishment, or “strategic enclave,” in driving Indian nuclear aspirations.9 Sumit Ganguly, by contrast, argues that national security concerns, in the form of perceived threats from China and Pakistan, were the primary motivation for India’s nuclear program. China had thoroughly trounced India in a 1962 border war and had tested nuclear weapons in 1964. The Pakistanis, for their part, had been the recipients of significant Chinese arms transfers and Chinese ballistic missile technology. According to Ganguly, Indian leaders saw nuclear weapons as a means of insulating the country against these dangers.10
