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1821. Pruebas Nucleares en el Sur de Asia: Las Razones y las Repercusiones

Author:
Varun Sahni
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
On May 11, 1998, India conducted three underground nuclear tests, followed by two more 48 hours later. Two weeks later, Pakistan responded with six nuclear tests of its own. The purpose of this document is to analyze the reasons behind the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests as well as their innumerable implications. To facilitate analysis, the study is divided into two parts. In the first, the reasons that propelled the governments of India and Pakistan to a posture of overt nuclearization are analyzed. In both cases, the nuclear tests were the result of diverse factors, ranging from security concerns to domestic political calculations to considerations of international prestige. In the second part of the document the impact of the Indian and Pakistani actions are analyzed on four well-defined levels: internal, bilateral, regional and global.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Middle East, and India

1822. Brazil, India and South Africa: Three Pathways to Regional (In)security

Author:
Varun Sahni
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the regional security problems of Brazil, India and South Africa in the Southern Cone of South America, South Asia, and southern Africa, respectively. The three states are treated as emerging powers, i.e., middle powers that have the capability and intention to maneuver their way into great power status. a study of the regional distributions of military and socioeconomic capability suggest Brazilian regional primacy, Indian regional dominance and South African regional supremacy. Furthermore, while Brazil's neighbors ignore its regional status, India's neighbors contest it and South Africa's neighbors acknowledge it. In the first three sections of the paper, the three regional powers studied in their respective regions, with emphasis on the geographical boundaries, historical evolution, cultural characteristics and power dynamics of each region. A comparative analysis of the nuclear option chosen by each emerging power is presented in the section immediately following the three case studies. The final section situates the regional security of the emerging powers in the context of U.S. grand strategy and analyzes security cooperation between Brazil, India, South Africa and the U.S. It is concluded that in their quest to transcend their regional bounds and have a global impact, the regional security context is a critical factor for the emerging powers.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, South Asia, India, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

1823. Violence Against Women Construction Workers in Kerala, India

Author:
S.K. Hari Priya
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York
Abstract:
Woman constitute nearly half of the population of India (48.1 percent which makes 403.4 million women in absolute numbers as per 1991 census). Out of this female population, 74.7 percent are in rural areas and it is abundantly clear that there can be no development unless their needs and interests are fully taken into account. The provision of the constitution of India granting equality to women in various spheres creates the legal framework within which the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India functions for women's development. Women as a motherhood of the nation, should be strong aware and alert. India is the signatory to the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against woman (CEDAW). India ratified the convention in June 1993. The Department of Woman and Child Development was set up in the year 1985 to give the much needed impetus to the holistic development of women and children in India. The major policy initiatives undertaken be the Department in recent past include, the establishment of the National Commission for Women (NCW), Rasthriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) adoption of National Nutritional Policy, (NNP) Strengthening of Integrated Child Development Schemes (ICDS) setting up National Creche Fund (NCF), launching of Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY), Balika Samridhi Yojaja (BSY) and Rural Women's Development and Empowerment Project etc. There are also few other departments in various ministries considering women's empowerment and gender equality etc. in some of their programmes.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Poverty
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Kerala

1824. Accessing Venture Capital in India

Author:
Rafiq Dossani
Publication Date:
10-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
In the 1970s, IT exports from India began with “body-shopping,” also known as contract programming. In such contracts, the amount of code was specified in the contract and there was relatively little risk. Until 1991, this was the main form of IT exports, and it was per- formed exclusively by Indian firms. Foreign firms were deliberately excluded as a matter of government policy. It was a difficult business environment. Indian firms that were exporting bodies, as well as firms that operated only in the domestic market, found themselves operat- ing in a closed economy, featuring high tariffs on hardware imports and non-tariff barriers on software imports. Quite by accident, this situation led to a growth of skills that would be of great value to India a few years later. India's UNIX talents, now globally in demand due to the growth of the Internet, developed because the country's closed economy forced Indian computer makers to develop their own hardware and software design skills. Sridhar Mitta noted that, in 1983, the United States used an Intel 386 microprocessor as the base for a simple personal computer, whereas India employed the same microprocessor with the UNIX operating system to power mainframes that controlled large enterprises. India's closed environment also spurred the country's IT industry to develop advanced skills in system design, architecture, protocol stacks, compilers, device drivers, and boards.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
United States, India, and Asia

1825. The Global Wave of Entrepreneurialism: Harnessing the Synergies of Personal Initiative, Digital Technologies, and Global Commerce

Author:
David Bollier
Publication Date:
01-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Future historians may call this period the entrepreneurial age. Rarely has such an explosion of new business ventures, technological innovation, and cultural experimentation swept across diverse cultures of the globe simultaneously. Government leaders in Beijing and Singapore, Warsaw and Caracas, Moscow and London are looking to business mavericks to energize their economies. Multinational companies are eager to instill entrepreneurial values within their workforces to boost their competitiveness. On the periphery of such power centers, meanwhile, entrepreneurs large and small are remaking entire sectors of the economy and creating high-tech boomtowns in San Jose, California; Bangalore, India; Cambridge, England; Austin, Texas; and many other places.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, India, London, California, Moscow, England, Singapore, Bangalore, Austin, and Texas

1826. Ethnic Conflict in South Asia

Author:
P. Sahadevan
Publication Date:
06-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:
A tumultuous region with a common cultural background and shared political experience, South Asia occupies a prominent place in the global map of ethnic conflict. Many groups have fiercely fought with each other, laid siege on the state, frustrated its nation-building efforts, and burnt bridges to capture the larger consciousness of the international community. In comparison, the region is unique in many ways from the standpoint of ethnicity, use of violence and approach to peace. First, it is one of the world's most complex regions with multi-ethnic societies, characterized by striking internal divisions along linguistic, regional, communal and sectarian lines, but externally linked to one another across national boundaries. Yet, multiculturalism or pluralism as a guiding principle of governance is hardly adopted into the popular political culture of the region. A probable exception is India where different ethnic groups, at least in principle, enjoy 'equally' a modicum of political space for cultural and political autonomy. But there, multicultural arrangements are hindered by the Center's intrusion into the affairs of political institutions, leading to political decay and rupture in center-periphery relations. The manner and the extent of state intervention in promoting the politico-economic interests of groups, therefore, determine the dynamics of conflict.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Defense Policy, Ethnic Conflict, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

1827. India and Pakistan’s Fissile Material and Nuclear Weapons Inventory, end of 1998

Author:
David Albright
Publication Date:
10-1999
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Abstract:
Estimating the size of India and Pakistan’s inventory of separated weapon-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) has become more difficult following their nuclear tests in May, 1998. Both countries treat these numbers as highly classified, partly because such estimates provide a direct indication of the number of nuclear weapons they possess. In the case of Pakistan, what can be surmised is that it has resumed full-scale production of HEU, following a declared moratorium on such production since 1991. Abdul Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s uranium enrichment program, announced soon after the Pakistani tests that his country had never stopped making HEU. Although his comment has been greeted skeptically, it indicates that Pakistan may have resumed making weapon-grade uranium well before its tests in May, 1998.
Topic:
Security, Nuclear Weapons, Weapons, Uranium, and Plutonium
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and India

1828. Assessing the Impact of the Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Tests on the Middle East

Author:
Gerald M. Steinberg
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Abstract:
Since the beginning of the atomic age in 1945, the possession and deployment of nuclear weapons has become the dominant factor in the international system. Those countries that acquired nuclear weapons have become (or maintained their status as) primary world powers, but as the number of such countries grew, the potential for the use of nuclear weapons also increased. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy warned that unless immediate and significant action was taken, within a decade there would be as many as 20 nuclear powers. The process of proliferation was seen as one of the most dangerous and destabilizing aspects of the nuclear era.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, Middle East, and India

1829. Fact Sheet: India and Pakistan—Current and Potential Nuclear Arsenals

Author:
David Albright
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Abstract:
The decision by India to conduct five nuclear tests in May 1998 threatens to spark an all-out nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan have developed the capability to produce unsafeguarded weapon-grade plutonium and weapon-grade uranium (WGU) for nuclear weapons. However, until now, both countries have constrained their nuclear competition, preferring to keep their arsenals undeployed. In addition, Pakistan decided in the early 1990s to stop producing weapon-grade uranium, in essence capping its stock of material for nuclear weapons. India is widely perceived to have a significantly larger nuclear arsenal than Pakistan. The following estimate shows that if a nuclear arms race developed between India and Pakistan and Pakistan decided to resume WGU production, India’s overwhelming advantage could disappear.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Weapons, and Competition
Political Geography:
Pakistan and India

1830. Preventing a South Asian Arms Race

Author:
Kevin O'Neill
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Abstract:
India’s five nuclear tests, conducted during the week of May 11, 1998, and indications from Pakistan that it may test nuclear weapons clearly show that international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in South Asia have failed. The Clinton administration, which quietly acknowledged the nuclear weapons-capability of India and Pakistan even before India’s tests, must now openly address a possible nuclear arms race on the subcontinent.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Weapons, and Arms Race
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and India