Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict by Vipin Narang

Vipin Narang offers a critical analysis of why states adopt certain strategies and postures over others and how these choices affect their ability to deter conflicts. With the world already into the second nuclear age, strategic equations are no longer defined by a ‘bipolar global superpower competition involving massive nuclear arsenals with the capability to destroy each other multiple times over’ (p. 1). The new era is deeply influenced by the strategic dynamics of regional nuclear powers possessing smaller nuclear arsenals, unstable political establishments and often involved in unresolved clashes over issues like border conflicts, disputed territory and terrorism. Taking cognisance of the changed strategic dynamics, Narang’s book offers an innovative typology of nuclear postures that have wide-ranging implications for proliferation and nuclear deterrence between conflicting regional powers.