Eyes on the prize: India’s pursuit of membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has been beset with its relationship with India ever since New Delhi and Washington in 2005 announced that they would strike up a bilateral partnership requiring that the NSG lift longstanding restrictions aimed at blunting India’s nuclear development. India’s history of hostility to the very mission of the NSG has prompted questions and even suspicion about India’s reasons for wanting to join the arrangement. These concerns continue to affect NSG members’ views about the terms under which India might become a participant; to date India has not been admitted into the group. While India has not openly articulated an elaborate official catalog of its reasons, Indian participants and observers have provided several partial explanations for India’s strong desire for NSG membership. Their statements suggest that a number of specific Indian interests concerning India’s nuclear-energy program would be advanced by NSG participation, but also that India’s ultima ratio is its quest for greater international political status. A historical approach to the case also permits the conclusion that India applied for NSG membership following an evolution in New Delhi’s perceptions of its security threats as well as of the strategic significance of its nuclear-energy program.