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For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications The United States and the Global Nuclear Order: Narrative Identity and the Representation of India as the ‘Other’ 1993-2009 A thesis submitted to the University of Warwick for the degree of Ph.D. Tanvi Pate September 2015 Department of Politics and International Studies University of Warwick Dedicated to the memory of my grandmother Eunice Ernest Solanki (1933-2008) Contents Acknowledgments i Declaration ii Abstract iii List of Abbreviations iv Introduction 1 Chapter One: Re-theorising Foreign Policy Introduction 18 Level-of-analysis 19 Neorealism (systemic level) 19 Neoliberalism (state level) 23 Bureaucratic politics (domestic-political level) 24 Ideological disposition (individual level) 27 Level-of-Analysis (systemic, state, individual levels) 29 Constructivism/neoliberalism/realism (multiple theoretical levels) 31 The assumptions of state ‘identity’ and ‘foreign policy’ in contending IR approaches 32 Neorealism, neoliberalism and state identity-foreign policy 33 Bureaucratic politics and state identity-foreign policy 37 Ideology and state identity-foreign policy 38 Level-of-Analysis and state identity-foreign policy 40 Constructivism and state identity-foreign policy 42 Postcolonial identity, narratives and US nuclear foreign policy 45 Conclusion: Going beyond the levels – Filling the gap in the existing literature 49 Chapter Two: Reconceptualising Foreign Policy: Narrative, State Identity and Action from a Critical Constructivist-Postcolonial Viewpoint Introduction 51 Constructing the social world through language 53 Narrative identity 56 Implementing ‘we-ness’: Power and the establishment of ‘a’ universal identity 61 Conceptualising great power narratives 65 Imperialism as an organising principle of great power narratives 69 Understanding ‘race’, ‘political economy’, and ‘gender’ as identity markers 72 Foreign policy as a boundary producing practice 78 Analysing emplotment: Intertextuality as methodology 88 Selection of texts 93 Conclusion 97 Chapter Three: Creating American Nuclear Subjectivity: ‘Atoms for Peace’ in the Campaign for a New Global Nuclear Order Introduction 100 The Atoms for Peace programme and the declaration of America’s global nuclear role 102 Great power narratives and US nuclear identity 106 Establishing ‘peace’ in an atomic age 107 A ‘democratic’ country standing for ‘freedom’ 117 Advancing ‘science’ of the atom for world ‘betterment’ 126 Ensuring ‘economic progress’ of the world 134 Conclusion 141 Chapter Four: Is India a Capable Nuclear Power? The Changing Characteristics of India as the ‘Other’ (1947-1992) Introduction 144 Formative representation of India (1947-1964) 146 Background to the discursive events 146 The science of developing an atom: Early images of India as a ‘scientifically handicapped’ country during implementation of Atoms for Peace (1947-1964) 149 The politics of NPT and representation of India (1965-1980) 156 Background to the discursive events 157 From ‘scientifically handicapped’ to ‘economically backward’: Changing images of India with the first major rift caused by the NPT (1965-1980) 161 The politics of Arms Control and representations of India (1981-1992) 169 Background to the discursive events 169 The politics of arms control and the spatial dimensions to technological, democratic, and economic identity of the ‘other’ (1981-1992) 171 Conclusion 178 Chapter Five: Establishing a Post-Cold War Global Nuclear Order: The Bill Clinton Administration’s Conflicting Images of India as the ‘Other’ (1993-2001) Introduction 182 Background to the discursive events 186 Great power narratives and US nuclear identity 193 Debating ‘Hindu radicalism’ and its propensity to practice peace 193 The geopolitical, cultural, and economic dimensions to US-Soviet Union and India-Pakistan nuclear deterrence 201 ‘Greatness’ in relation to the Clinton administration’s understanding of democratic principles that define America 213 A ‘struggling’ economy on to the path of reforms 221 A ‘second-tier’ state’s quest to demonstrate ‘technological prowess’ 230 Conclusion 235 Chapter Six: A Nuclear America in the Post 9/11 World: India as the ‘Other’ in the Narratives of the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009) Introduction 238 Background to the discursive events 241 Great power narratives and US nuclear identity 251 Proclaiming Hindu civilisation’s inclination for peace 252 India-Pakistan ‘de-hyphenation’: US and India in a temporal dimension 259 Bringing democratic India ‘from periphery to the centre of the NPT’: The geopolitical and cultural dimensions of democratic India 266 Encouraging ‘reforms’ to sustain India’s rapid economic growth 280 ‘Helping’ and ‘assisting’ India: US assistance in renewable technologies to sustain growth 287 Conclusion 294 Chapter Seven: Understanding the Complexity of Identity/Difference in the Great Power Narratives of the Bill Clinton and the George W. Bush Administrations from a Postcolonial Viewpoint Introduction 298 Degrees of difference in identity of race 300 Degrees of difference in identity of political economy 308 Degrees of difference in identity of gender 313 Conclusion 318 Conclusion 321 Appendix 341 Bibliography 342 Acknowledgements At this point I inevitably look back at the achievements and failures with a smile as well as look forward to acknowledge the cooperation and encouragement provided by one and all in making my undertaking achievable. With great pleasure I express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors, Trevor McCrisken and Nick Vaughan-Williams, for their invaluable guidance. The wisdom and constructive views that they shared, besides facilitating my research would positively go a long way. I would like to thank Himadeep Muppidi and Robbie Shilliam since their thought-provoking suggestions proved to be useful. The Interviewees who took time from their busy schedules to speak to me, also the staffs at Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas and PAIS Department, University of Warwick were obliging. Their timely assistance is appreciated. Last, but certainly not least, I am grateful to my parents for their prayers and unfaltering support. My research pursuit from an uncertain start to the present stage reminds me of my grandmother’s patience, perseverance and preferred Biblical line (Isaiah 64:8): “We are the clay, and You are the potter; we are the work of Your hand”. i Declaration This thesis is entirely my own work and no portion of it has been submitted for a degree at another university. ii Abstract Post-Cold War US nuclear policies towards India witnessed a major swing as they developed from being a demand for the ‘halt, cap, rollback’ during Bill Clinton administration (1993- 2001) to the signing and implementation of the historic ‘civil nuclear deal’ during the George W. Bush administration (2001-2009). This thesis addresses this change in US nuclear foreign policy by focusing on three core categories of identity, inequality and great power narratives. First, building upon the theoretical paradigm of critical constructivism, the thesis problematises the concept of the ‘state’ by focusing on identity-related questions arguing that the ‘state’ becomes a constructed entity standing as valid only within relations of identity and difference. Secondly, focusing on postcolonial principles, it argues that imperialism as an organising principle of identity/difference enables us to understand how difference was maintained in unequal terms through US nuclear foreign policy and that foreign policy is manifested in five great power narratives constructed around: peace and justice; India-Pakistan deterrence; democracy; economic progress; and scientific development. Thirdly, identities of ‘race’, ‘political economy’ and ‘gender’, in terms of radical otherness and otherness were recurrently utilised through these narratives to maintain a difference, which enabled the Bill Clinton and the George W. Bush administrations to maintain ‘US’ identity as a progressive and developed western nation, intrinsically justifying the US role as an arbiter of the global nuclear order. The contribution of the thesis: an interdisciplinary perspective on US state identity as connected to the global nuclear order and implications of nuclear policy towards India; a comparative perspective on great power narratives of the Clinton and the Bush administrations that are historically contingent; and methodological insights into temporal and spatial dimensions of textuality through the discourse analysis of primary material. iii List of Abbreviations ABMs Anti-Ballistic Missiles AEC Atomic Energy Commission AECA Arms Export Control Act BARC Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BJP Bharatiya Janata Party BRICS Brazil Russia India China South Africa BWRs Boiling Water Reactors CIA Central Intelligence Agency CIRUS Canada-India Reactor, US CPI Counter Proliferation Initiative CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty DOE Department of Energy DRDO Defence Research and Development Organisation ENDC Eighteen Nation Disarmament Conference EPA Environmental Protection