Nuclear Weapons and Conflict Transformation: The Case of India–Pakistan by Saira Khan

There are many volumes on conflict resolution and nuclear proliferation. While the conflict scholarship focuses on management, resolution and transformation of conflicts, the proliferation scholarship examines why states acquire nuclear weapons in the first place and whether or not these have any deterrent value. The book under review goes beyond these two prospects by questioning what happens when a state, in protracted conflicts, acquires nuclear weapons. Accordingly, the book makes an interesting case study of India–Pakistan and seeks to answer whether the acquisition of nuclear weapons by these two protracted conflict states has averted war, promoted peace and resolved the crises in the South Asian region.