Introduction
India and Pakistan have embarked upon a dialogue with the goal of achieving a clearer and more stable basis of shared understanding for strategic relationships between them in the context of their avowed possession, since 1998, of nuclear weapons. This dialogue has importance reaching beyond the two states themselves. The South Asia programme of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) plans to produce a series of short background briefs relevant to issues that may arise in the course of the dialogue, or may bear upon its outcome. The Institute has itself no policy position or agenda in the matters reviewed; the aim is simply to aid public understanding.
The briefs will be published at about four-weekly intervals on the Institute’s website in 2004-05. The first brief summarises what is known about the capabilities and plans of the two countries in regard to nuclear weapons and systems for delivering them. It is envisaged that subsequent briefs will address national doctrine on nuclear-weapon issues; themes for possible strategic agreement; security and safety; defence against ballistic missiles; and arms control and proliferation aspects. The briefs are written by Sir Michael Quinlan.
Biography of Sir Michael Quinlan
Sir Michael Quinlan is IISS Consulting Senior Fellow for south Asia. He spent his main career in the UK Civil Service, primarily in the defence field. He worked extensively in successive posts on nuclear-weapon policy, doctrine and arms control in both the national and the NATO context. His final post was as Permanent Under-Secretary of State in the UK Ministry of Defence from 1988 to 1992. Sir Michael was thereafter for seven years Director of the Ditchley Foundation, which runs a high-level programme of international conferences.
Sir Michael has written and lectured extensively on international security issues, and in 1997 the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies published his monograph 'Thinking About Nuclear Weapons'. He is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College, London, and also an Honorary Ancien of the NATO Defence College.
