Brasstacks and Beyond (Perception and Management of Crisis in South Asia)

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India-Pakistan relations have remained crisis-prone over the last decade. But the crisis emanating from the another Brasstacks Exercise (1986-87) was the most serious. It carried within it the most imminent likelihood of another Indo-Pak war.

The key findings are that the Brasstacks-related crisis probably led Pakistan to "weaponize" its nuclear program; that India might have had larger, open-ended goals; that intelligence available to India, Pakistan, and the United States was substantial, but became questionable at critical junctures; and that established hotline communications between India and Pakistan were not used as they were suspected of being misused for deception purposes.

Many prescriptive suggestions have been offered to avoid such Indo-Pak confrontations in the future. This study also draws attention to what remains presently unknown about the decision-making processes in the three countries during the Brasstacks crisis.

KANTI BAJPAI is an associate professor, Disarmament Division at the Centre for International Politics, Organization, and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the co-editor of South Asia After the Cold War: International Perspectives and co-author of "Cooperative Security in South Asia," in Janne Nolan and John Steinbruner, eds. Cooperative Security.

P.R. CHARI is a research professor, National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and his publications include the recent Indo-Pak Nuclear Standoff: The Role of the United States and Managing Nuclear Proliferation in South Asia: An Indian View.

PERVAIZ IQBAL CHEEMA is professor and former chairman, Department of International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. He is the author of several books, including Pakistan's Defence Policy, 1947-58. STEPHEN PHILIP COHEN is a professor of history and political science and director of the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prof. Cohen has published several books, including The Pakistan Army and The Indian Army.

SUMIT GANGULY is a professor of political science, Hunter College, New York. He is the author of The Origins of War in South Asia: Indo-Pakistani Conflicts Since 1947, and has co-edited The Hope and the Reality: U.S.-Indian Relations from Roosevelt to Reagan and India Votes.