Contents: 1. Nuclear weapons and discourse analysis. 2. From celibacy to explosion: nuclear discourse in India, 1947-1974. 3. Contemporary Indian nuclear discourse. 4. Roots of rhetoric in Pakistan: 1960s-1977. 5. Nukespeak in Pakistan: 1977-1999. 6. Dissenting narratives. 7. Summary and assessments. Selected bibliography. Index.

"This book is .. highly recommendable for approaching Indian and Pakistani nuclear history in a comparative framework, which though not singular, enhances the wealth of literature from a regional perspective. . . Nizamani’s assumptions are fresh. His approach … is unique because it break free of the confines of established theoretical models (Kenneth Waltz, Barry Buzan, K. J. Holsti) upon which majority western attitudes toward third world security issues are predicated… The author’s foucauldian influence in posting a direct relationship between discourse (knowledge) and practical state policy (power) in establishing "regimes of truth" stuck me as a breath of fresh air by injecting the role of ideas and perceptions into a discipline thus far viewed from a narrow military-strategic lens." Sreeram Sundar Chaulia, London School of Economics. (jacket)