The Stability-Instability Paradox: How Nuclear Weapons Incentivize Irregular Warfare

January 12, 2024 00:53:45
The Stability-Instability Paradox: How Nuclear Weapons Incentivize Irregular Warfare
Irregular Warfare Podcast
The Stability-Instability Paradox: How Nuclear Weapons Incentivize Irregular Warfare

Jan 12 2024 | 00:53:45

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Show Notes

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Do nuclear weapons play a stabilizing role by discouraging nuclear-armed states to go to war with one another? If so, are these states then incentivized to pursue their objectives vis-à-vis one another by indirect means and proxy conflict? These are the parallel dynamics described as the stability-instability paradox. Our guests on this episode, Professor Sumit Ganguly and Dr. Tricia Bacon, describe the theoretical underpinnings of this paradox and explore a real-world example—the 1999 Kargil conflict and the broader pattern of the India-Pakistan rivalry—to trace the impact of nuclear weapons on irregular warfare.

 

Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa

Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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