Politics of the Nuclear Deal and the US-India Relations

Dr. Stephen P Cohen, Senior Fellow of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution participated in a Roundtable Discussion on the Politics of the Nuclear Deal and the US-India Relations, at the Centre for Security Analysis on 9th September 2006.

In his introductory remarks, Dr. Cohen said that opposition to the US-India Nuclear Deal was, by and large, a product of mistrust of the past. He said that judgements of the future are often shaded by interpretation of the past. Summarising the arguments of opponents in both countries, Dr. Cohen said that the main problems were the conviction in the United States that India could not be trusted for good non-proliferating behaviour and the perception in India that the United States would force it to do things that run contrary to Indian interests.

Speaking of his views on the US-India nuclear deal, he felt that the critical question facing the two states was the relevance of India's nuclear status to the deal. He observed that India's nuclear capacity was very modest and that there was no strategic threat posed by India to the US, unlike the expansionist China. This was, he stated, the best opportunity for both countries to seal the proposed deal. He also felt that India-US relations would not be seriously jeopardised even if the deal failed to come through.

The event was well covered by the print media and these reports can be accessed through the following links:

Time ripe for India to clinch nuclear deal: Stephen Cohen
India can make use of nuke deal: Cohen

Click here for Dr. Cohen's complete speech