Pakistan And The Nuclear Bomb : Motivations Exposed Through A Constructivist Lens

Realists’ belief that, “war is unavoidable and natural part of world affairs.” According to Bova, there are over 200 sovereign states, and they all interest to gain power to defend themselves. As a result, state’s feeling of insecurity causes it to take any means to feel secure whether it is through the formation of ally with another powerful state or accumulation of military and economic power. Such action threatens other states provoke them take similar actions. This cycle applies to all states, and the feeling of threat and desire to survive is innate in humans In understanding International Relations, McNamara’s lesson is useful in the regards that actions that state takes to protect itself causes the complexity and conflicts of foreign policies that human beings are incapable of

For realists the international system is anarchical, war is an ever present threat and the survival of a state is never guaranteed. This is why security is the main focus of most realists. States are forever seeking greater amounts of security, in a never ending search.

Modern day Pakistan’s land has traditionally been Muslim for many years. In the early nineteenth century it was ruled by Britain and considered part of the British Indian Empire. In 1947, a partition was granted from the British, and Pakistan and India were created as their own countries. As the previous British Empire divided,

The states are the most important actors in realism. Realism is a broad intellectual tradition that explains international relations in terms of power. More specifically, when states work in an effort to increase their own power in relation to other states. With Realism there are claims made, such as the world is a harsh and dangerous place, and the only certainty in the world is power. If a state is powerful, that state will always outlast its weaker competitors. In addition to this, the most important and reliable form of power is military power. Another claim is a state’s primary interest should be self-preservation, and due to this, a state should seek power and protect itself. Realism has a very defined foundation, and that is dominance. The looking glass of realism sees the world through recognizing the winner and the loser.

The present US-Pakistan bilateral relationship resembles a poor quality soap opera, full of sentimentality and melodrama. Words like lies, deceit, disloyalty and betrayal from a cast of characters including US President Trump and Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief Bajwa describe the state of the complex and strained relationship. The disruption in ties between the two countries comes at a crucial time when shared interests instead of silly exchanges should be driving policies, in a particularly dangerous and volatile part of the world.

The ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan has been the subject of speculation and study by political scientists and historians for a number of years. The ethnic conflict seems to have been sparked at the very beginning in 1947, when the British used Muslim and Hindu mercenaries against each other before the area finally split into today’s countries of India and Pakistan (Spiegel et al. 2015, 185). The timeline since then has been full of conflicts, both major and minor. Brutal tactics used by security forces and a high rate of unemployment have added to the issue (BBC News 2016).

Realism is a theory which believes that sovereign states are the primary actors in the international system. It also believes that the international system has always been anarchic due to the nature of states not trusting each other and each state seeking to gain or maximize its own power capability. The Realist approach to the Cold War was also that of an “anarchical constitutive” and had seen the Cold War as something that was not out of the ordinary. The realists believed that states are always competing to maximize their own power, “the basic premise of its understanding is that the Cold War was not historically unique. the Cold War rather reflected in general terms the ongoing logic of inter-state conflict derived from the anarchical constitutive nature of the international system, and the ‘power maximization’ policies of states” R.Saull (2001:7).

In a realist world, states have “supreme power” over its territory and population, there is an absence of a higher authority. The fact that there is no higher authority has its consequences. States become self-interested, they compete for power and security. It can lead states to continuously struggle for power “where the strong dominate the weak (Kegley, 28).” This ultimately creates a system in which each state is responsible for its own survival, making them cautious towards their neighboring states. In addition, a realist world is a self-help system; “political leaders seek to enhance national security” by building armies and forming alliances (Kegley, 28). Economic and military power are key components to a state sovereignty and to national security.

The British’s goal to separate the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs was a total disaster. “The trouble was that Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs were an integrated population so that it was impossible to make a border without widespread dislocation.” This quote states that making a border was impossible because the groups aren’t meant to be spread apart. “By the end of 1947 there were virtually no Hindus or Sikhs living in west India - now part of Pakistan - and no Muslims in the Indian east.” This explains how the British made Pakistan because of the partition. “The British government and Mountbatten must bear a large part of the blame for this tragedy." Therefore, the British caused religious violence and disagreement against each

This paper provides a brief review the basic idea in realism which they argue that state need to be the dominant actor in pursuing their national and security interest that will lead to self-help situation. All in all, to pursue national interest, realism emphasize the objective of power. Power was the key actor of self-defence and the conservation of national interest. Therefore, the interest is best serve by having a strong military capability. Realist claims state need pursue interest rather than peace. There no other higher political entity except the state itself. Even though, the sanctions after sanction impose in the North Korea, but they still pursue its nuclear development program. Hence, these

Realism by its own definition refers to a theory that analyzes the relations among states, highlighting human nature as a major factor in politics. Motivations for global outreach, relationships, and conflicts are described as consequences from human aspects, such as fear, the desire to seek wealth, et cetera. Pessimism permeates the core of realism. Realists argue that power must be sought out in order for states to exist as thriving groups, even if it means to participate in conflicts (Baylis et al., 2017, 102). States are seen as the primary actors to focus upon when analyzing international relations (Houghton, 2007, 25). This broad approach brings heavy focus upon the issues which regard global peace and war and how major powers interact and maintain relations, assigning less focus at the individual level of analysis.

The book “India, Pakistan and the United States: Breaking With the Past” By Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli asserted that to assure “cold peace" between both neighbouring countries India and Pakistan, Washington must acknowledge ground realities. According to the author threats and withdrawing the assistance cannot help to make Pakistan to change its policies no incentive of any kind can do anything with regard to the policy of Pakistan. The insecurity will prevail due to maintenance of its nuclear programs. The writer further says any measure of punishing Pakistan to roll back on nuclear proliferation would not work no sanction can do any effect on its approach. The Only thing, that can work is enhancing the attention on steps of engaging Pakistan and

In 1940 the all-Indian Muslim league declared its desire for a 'Pakistan' meaning 'land of the pure' under the confederation of an all Hindu state called 'Hindustan' or the 'land of the Hindus'. however a 'Pakistan' under the Indian rule seemed impossible, and

The theory of Realism provides reasons why North Korea has positioned the nuclear weapon debate at the centre of its policy. One of the fundamental assumptions of Realism is in fact that each state, embedded in an international order characterized by a condition of antagonism, attempt to pursue its

Kashmir is conflict territory after the partition of India and Pakistan. Conflict is not only between India and Pakistan but also India and the religious militants. Religious Militants are conducting a jihad to govern by the religious law. Historically, Kashmir included Sufis Muslim not orthodox Muslim. Numerous international events had influenced in the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir. Jihad is not originally from Kashmir but they are foreign militancy bought during the end of the Soviet –Afghanistan War. Additionally, they are trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan Inter service Intelligence helped them to incorporate into organized militant groups. Pakistan helped Jihad group with full moral,