The inconsequential gains and lasting insecurities of India's nuclear weaponization

India's nuclear breakout in 1998, foreshadowed as early as 1974, may have been understandable for reasons of global nuclear politics, a triangular regional equation between China, India and Pakistan, and domestic politics. Yet the utility of India's nuclear weapons remains questionable on many grounds. Nuclear deterrence is dubious in general and especially dubious in the subcontinent. Nuclear weapons are not usable as weapons of compellence or defence. They failed to stop the Pakistani incursion in Kargil in 1999 or the terrorist attack on Mumbai in 2008. They will not help India to shape the military calculations of likely enemies. And India's global status and profile will be determined far more crucially by its economic performance than nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, they do impose direct and opportunity costs economically, risk corrosion of democratic accountability, add to global concerns about nuclear terrorism, and have not helped the cause of global nuclear non‐proliferation and disarmament. Because the consequences of a limited regional war involving India could be catastrophic for the world, others have both the right and a responsibility to engage with the issue. For all these reasons, a denuclearized world that includes the destruction of India's nuclear stockpile would favourably affect the balance of India's security and other interests, national and international interests, and material interests and value goals.     

HIERARCHICAL AND FUNCTIONAL STABILITY AND CHANGE IN A STRONGLY URBANIZING AREA OF SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO, 1871-1971

Commercial functional and hierarchical stability and change, 1871-1971, are analysed for the Toronto-to-London area using the Davies index. The subsequent spatial analysis showed that by 1971 ‘surging’ places, those growing faster than their long-term mean, were concentrated near larger cities, a pattern similar to 1871 except for the 1971 concentration near Toronto. The middle years 1901-41 were the most stable on all measures. ‘Slowing’ places occurred on the northern periphery in 1871, from Toronto to Hamilton in 1901-41, and in the rural area west of Kitchener by 1971. Une analyse est entreprise de l‘évolution hierarchique et fonctionnelle, 1871-1971, pour la region entre Toronto et Londres, utilisant l'indice de Davies. L'analyse spatialle demontre qu'en 1971 les centres qui etaient entrain de s'agrandir plus rapidement que la moyenne à long terme se trouvaient concentrés près des plus grandes villes, une repartition semblable a celle de 1871 exception faite de la concentration prés de Toronto en 1971. Les periodes de 1901 à 1941 furent caractérisées par le plus grand degré de stabilité sur tous les mesures. Les centres dits ralentissants se trouverent sur la limite nord en 1871, de Toronto à Hamilton entre 1901 et 1941, et dans la zone rurale à l'ouest de Kitchener en 1971.     

The Responsibility to Protect at 15

In the fifteen years since the publication of the report ‘The Responsibility to Protect’ by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, there has been a burgeoning literature on all aspects of R2P. This review article focuses on five issues. First, it revisits the shift from ‘humanitarian intervention’ to R2P as the key innovation in 2001, highlighting the political, conceptual, normative, procedural and operational differences between the two. Second, it examines the state of knowledge regarding the causes of atrocities; the institutional vulnerabilities and points of resilience; the pathways from simmering animosities to mass killings; the indicators and precursors; and the most effective preventive and response mechanisms. Third, it reviews the unsatisfactory state of R2P implementation. Fourth, it discusses the main R2P actors, from international organizations and key groups of states to individuals. Finally, it addresses the continuing scepticism about R2P, in that it does not resolve all the dilemmas of how outsiders can provide timely, decisive and effective assistance to any group in need of protection.