A Nuclear Jihad: The Effects of Nuclear Weapons on Non-state Violence in the India-Pakistan Conflict

Nuclear weapons have been studied extensively in the literature, but seldom with a focus on their effects vis a vis non-state actors and levels of non-state violence. This paper proposes a systematic way to study just this, using the comparative method and a most-similar research design to uncover the role nuclear weapons have played in the India-Pakistan conflict. This study divides the conflict into three separate cases for cross-comparison: 1948-74, 1975-85, and 1986-2007. When rates of non-state violence are compared across the cases it becomes clear that nuclear weapons have precipitated a drastic rise in levels of non-state violence.