عنوان

Explaining Pakistan's strategic choices in the 1990s :

Number

TLets602648

Title Proper

Explaining Pakistan's strategic choices in the 1990s :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Farooq, Nasra Talat

Title Proper by Another Author

the role of the United States

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Lewis, George; Futter, Andrew

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Leicester

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2014

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Thesis (Ph.D.)

Text preceding or following the note

2014

Text of Note

This thesis explains Pakistan's strategic choices in the 1990s by examining the role of the United States in the shaping of Islamabad's security goals. Drawing upon a diverse range of oral history interviews, the thesis explains the American contribution to Pakistani security objectives during the presidency of Bill Clinton (1993-2001). By doing this it addresses a gap in the relevant literature and moves beyond the available mono-causal explanations often distorted by a mixture of intellectual obfuscation and political rhetoric. By drawing upon the concept of the security dilemma in international politics as a lens to understand the nature of Pakistan's India-specific security compulsions, this research investigates and explains the dynamics which drove Islamabad's pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for the Taliban and its approach towards the indigenous uprising in Indian Kashmir. In doing this, it highlights the extent to which Clinton's foreign policy reinforced the immediate catalysts for US-Pakistan relations in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 and the end of the Cold War two years later. The primary argument of the thesis is that Clinton's foreign policy contributed to the hardening of Islamabad's security perspectives, creating space for the Pakistani military establishment to pursue its regional security goals; goals which were largely at variance with US global objectives in the 1990s. Secondly, it argues that US-Pakistan relations during this period were driven by a Cold War mindset, causing a fissure between US global and Pakistan's regional security goals. The Pakistani military and civilian leadership utilized these divergent and convergent trends to protect Islamabad's India-centric strategic interests.

Farooq, Nasra Talat

Lewis, George; Futter, Andrew

University of Leicester

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y