A TECHNOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE DEBATE OVER THE US-INDIA NUCLEAR COOPERATION AGREEMENT IN INDIA (2005-2007) by Chaitanya.Ravi A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Environmental Science & Public Policy Committee: Dr. Hugh Gusterson, Dissertation Director Dr. Chris Kennedy, Committee Member Dr. David Hart, Committee Member ______________________________________ Dr. M. V. Ramana, Committee Member ______________________________________ Dr. Albert Torzilli, Graduate Program Director _ Dr. Robert Jonas, Department Chair Dr. Donna M. Fox, Associate Dean, Office of Student Affairs & Special Programs, College of Science Dr. Peggy Agouris, Dean, College of Science Date: Summer Semester 2014 George Mason University Fairfax, VA A Technological History of the Debate over the US-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in India (2005-2007) A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University by Chaitanya.Ravi Bachelor of Microbiology Pune University, 2004 Master of Environmental Science Pune University, 2006. Director: Dr. Hugh Gusterson, Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Summer Semester 2014 George Mason University Fairfax, VA This work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivs 3.0 unported license. ii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my parents. My mother, Jayashree Ravi for her unquestioning belief and constant encouragement that helped me get to the end of this project. My father, P. R. Ravi for inculcating discipline and impulse control during my formative years, traits that have stood me in good stead while writing this document. And my younger brother Prashanth. Ravi, a PhD student as well, for patiently hearing out my self-doubts and urging me to not give up during tough times even as he dealt with his own challenges in dignified silence. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu "a person is a person through other persons" - Zulu maxim Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all- William Faulkner Several people have played direct and indirect roles in the completion of my dissertation. I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Allison Macfarlane, my first Committee Chair for helping me select the right courses, commenting extensively on my thesis proposal drafts and critiquing my chapter drafts. Her prompt communication, professionalism and patience in dealing with an international student still coming to grips with the US academic system were key factors that enabled me to finish this dissertation. I am also very indebted to Dr. Hugh Gusterson, my current Committee Chair who took over from Allison in a smooth transition and shaped the bulk of my dissertation. His extensive theoretical insights and contextualizing facts, all delivered in an atmosphere of fastidious politeness have made this dissertation much better. I heartily thank Dr. M. V. Ramana for agreeing to be on my committee, for his honest comments on my chapter, for his deep insights about the Indian nuclear program and for making the trip from New Jersey for my proposal and dissertation defense. I also highly appreciate Dr. David Hart’s expert guidance, prompt communication and almost immediate review of my chapters. In particular, the theoretical framework in Chapter 3 has benefited substantially from his comments. Dr. Chris Kennedy agreed to become a part of my committee despite my project being at an advanced stage and has since provided valuable feedback on my chapters. I am especially grateful for your flexibility in ‘beaming’ yourself from Australia for my defense so that it could occur as planned. I also thank Sonja Schmid for her detailed comments on my thesis proposal and Dinshaw Mistry as well as Govind Gopakumar for commenting on drafts of my chapters. Fellow Ph.D student Arnaud Kurze was also helpful with comments on my thesis proposal. This dissertation would not have materialized without consistent funding from the Provost’s Office in the form a three-year Presidential Scholarship and steady subsequent teaching assistantships arranged by the Environmental Science and Policy Department and Biology Department at George Mason University. I appreciate the efforts made by Dr. Robert Jonas and Dr. Albert Torzilli to ensure that I had the requisite funds to complete my doctoral research. Sharon Bloomquist was of immense help in enabling me to navigate and complete the procedures required to stay in student status. The generous stipend provided by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) and the crucial support provided by its leadership including P.R. Chari, Dipankar Banerjee, Mallika Joseph and Suba Chandran gave me access to the Indian strategic community. Fellow researchers Siddharth Ramana, Jasbir Singh, Pia Arora and Kriti Singh were warm, hospitable and encouraging. iv My parents and brother provided encouragement, financial support and logistical assistance at crucial periods in my doctoral research. My friends Abhijeet, Arundhati and Aditya hosted me during weekends, picked up the tab at restaurants and made me a part of their expeditions to the Shenandoah Valley. They never made me feel like a student among professionals. Their support is an important factor in the completion of this project. Finally, my landlord Hasan Morshed, his wife Sharmin Bably and young daughter Sameen maintained an atmosphere of utter tranquility so that the sleepy graduate student in their basement could focus more on his dissertation. They also showed generosity in liberally interpreting the rent deadline during tough times. I appreciate your support. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Tables.......................................................................................................................x List of Figures.....................................................................................................................xi List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ xii Abstract.............................................................................................................................xiv Chapter 1: A Technological History of the Debate over the US-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in India (2005-2007).....................................................................1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 The US and India: estranged democracies ...................................................................... 1 The nuclear irritant .......................................................................................................... 2 Halting strategic reconciliation but persisting nuclear tension ....................................... 4 The Strobe-Talbott talks .................................................................................................. 6 The unexpected US reaction to Kargil ............................................................................ 7 Bush’s India fixation ....................................................................................................... 9 The glide path ................................................................................................................ 12 The idea of a nuclear deal ............................................................................................. 14 The July 18 2005 joint statement .................................................................................. 14 The nuclear deal-birth stories ........................................................................................ 16 The Indian nuclear landscape ........................................................................................ 25 Dissertation Outline....................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 2: The Social Construction of India’s Fast Breeder Reactors. ............................ 44 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 44 Background ................................................................................................................... 47 Nuclear weapons program ............................................................................................. 51 The July 18 2005 joint statement .................................................................................. 58 Theory ........................................................................................................................... 63 Relevant social groups .................................................................................................. 78 First coalition-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-Congress party ................................ 81 Second coalition-Left Front .......................................................................................... 84 Second coalition-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ............................................................. 88 vi First coalition-Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)-Dr. Anil Kakodkar ....................................................................................................................................... 91 Second coalition-Retired