On 17 June 2004, the IISS hosted a Special Round Table Discussion with Dr Raju G. C. Thomas, Allis Chalmers Distinguished Professor of International Affairs, Marquette University, Wisconsin.
Dr Thomas was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University (1980-1981 and 1988-1989), UCLA (1982-1983), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988-1989), the IISS (1991-1992), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1994). Between 1992 and 1997, he was the Co-director of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and Marquette University's Joint Centre for International Studies.
Dr Thomas' dozen books and edited/co-edited books include ‘The Defence of India: A Budgetary Perspective’ (Macmillan-India, 1978); ‘Indian Security Policy’ (Princeton University Press, 1986); ‘South Asian Security in the 1990s’ (IISS-London/Oxford University Press, 1993); ‘Perspectives on Kashmir’ (Westview Press, 1992); and ‘Nuclear India in the 21st Century’ (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2002). Currently, he is co-editing with Stanley Wolpert a 4-volume ‘Encyclopedia of India’ under contract with Macmillan-Scribners-Gale. Dr Thomas has an M.A. degree in Industrial and Monetary Economics from Bombay University, a B.Sc.Econ. degree in Economics and International History from the London School of Economics, an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA.
At the IISS, Dr Thomas spoke on 'Is South Asia the Most Dangerous Place on Earth?' and argued that despite dangerous scenarios there has been no large-scale crisis in the region. In his presentation, Dr. Thomas identified three main threats: rise of radical Hindu or Muslim nationalism, escalation of cross border terrorism into conventional war, and escalation of conventional war into nuclear confrontation. Dr Thomas expressed concern about future developments in Pakistan, and the possibility that terrorists might gain access to Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
He argued that an accidental nuclear war scenario is much more likely than an intentional nuclear war scenario between the two countries. He compared the situation to that during the Cold War, rejecting the view that a nuclear confrontation is more likely between India and Pakistan than it ever was between the US and Soviet Union. At the end of the day the decision makers in both India and Pakistan are rational in their thinking, and their populations are largely mixed. However, a command and control failure could raise the risk of nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
