Christopher Clary
Biographic Data
| ID | 3876959 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christopher Clary |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christopher |
| FAMILY NAME | Clary |
| SIGNATURE | CLARY C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Albany, State University of New York |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-3834-5297 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
India in 2025
This article reviews India’s political, economic, and strategic trajectory in 2025. Domestically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party consolidated political control with electoral successes, even as tensions surrounding minority rights, caste politics, and center–periphery relations persisted. Economically, India maintained robust growth despite heightened uncertainty stemming from US trade policy. The Indian economy benef…
Is India underbalancing China
US–India Relations in the Trump–Modi Era
How will US–India relations fare in a second Trump administration? While there is considerable uncertainty given the greater personalist tendencies of the US administration, this article demonstrates a substantial strategic and ideological convergence between the US and India on many—though not all—issues likely to arise through early 2029. India will have to blunt the impact of Trump’s neomercantilist impulses on trade and technology, even as Ne…
India in 2024
In 2024, India’s ascent in global politics and economics continued. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party retained its status as the dominant force in India’s politics, reaffirmed by Modi’s election to his third term as prime minister following parliamentary elections. Yet 2024 was also characterized by overreach by Modi’s government and its consequences. These setbacks were tangible but hardly transformational. Modi and his coalition will have …
Does interstate conflict affect attitudes towards domestic minorities? Evidence from India
In multiethnic societies, domestic minority groups are frequently associated with external adversaries. In such situations, external confrontations may potentially exacerbate internal ethnic conflict by increasing intolerance toward the domestic minority. Alternatively, they may result in rallying the public around a common superordinate national identity. We examine the case of India, which has a long-running rivalry with Muslim-majority Pakista…
Russia–Pakistan Relations and the Constraints of Geoeconomics
Russia–Pakistan relations have improved since the end of the Cold War. While that trend is likely to continue, Russia is unlikely to transform Pakistan’s difficult strategic circumstances. Russia is insufficiently wealthy to provide enough aid and investment to revitalize Pakistan’s economy. Russia is also too concerned with maintaining access to the Indian defense market to increase defense sales to Pakistan more than modestly. This article revi…
Voters and Foreign Policy
How much weight do voters place on foreign policy when deciding between electoral candidates? In traditional surveys in Pakistan, the vast majority of respondents identify India as an enemy and threat to Pakistan. What these studies do not assess is whether these beliefs affect voter preferences. Using a conjoint survey experiment conducted among 1,990 respondents in Pakistan, we find that respondents punish hypothetical politicians who advocate …
Public Opinion and Crisis Behavior in a Nuclearized South Asia
Research on public opinion and crisis behavior has focused largely on pressures felt by leaders who have initiated a crisis, not on leaders in target states responding to adversary provocation. Our survey experiment involving 1,823 respondents in Punjab, Pakistan, finds public support for escalating rather than de-escalating in response to such provocation. It shows how public pressures can encourage conflict even in instances where a leader has …
India's Counterforce Temptations
Is India shifting to a nuclear counterforce strategy? Continued aggression by Pakistan against India, enabled by Islamabad's nuclear strategy and India's inability to counter it, has prompted the leadership in Delhi to explore more flexible preemptive counterforce options in an attempt to reestablish deterrence. Increasingly, Indian officials are advancing the logic of counterforce targeting, and they have begun to lay out exceptions to India's l…
Tilting at windmills
This article examines decision-making mistakes made by U.S. President Nixon and national security advisor Kissinger during the 1971 India-Pakistan crisis and war. It shows that Nixon and Kissinger routinely demonstrated psychological biases that led them to overestimate the likelihood of West Pakistani victory against Bengali rebels as well as the importance of the crisis to broader U.S. policy. The evidence fails to support Nixon and Kissinger’s…
Personalities, organizations, and doctrine in the Indian military
The article explains when, why, and how Indian Army doctrine has changed since 1947. It traces Indian Army doctrinal evolution from defensive defense from 1947 to the mid-1960s, toward maneuver warfare after 1971, greater mechanization in the 1980s, and an emphasis on rapid, limited offensive strikes after 2002. It argues that in the absence of civilian intervention, the Indian Army has followed patterns predicted by organizational theory. The In…
Safer at Sea? Pakistan's Sea-Based Deterrent and Nuclear Weapons Security
India’s Rise as an Asian Power
Why do some powers rise while others languish? Does India have what it takes to ascend to the ranks of the world’s great powers? Sandy Gordon has an implicit answer to the first question that leads to an equivocal answer to the second. India can rise if it places its internal affairs in order and if it can transform the hostile politics of its neighborhood. Gordon is certainly correct that India has internal problems. For those who possess a utop…
Drivers of Long-Term Insecurity and Instability in Pakistan
Pakistan is already one of the most urbanized nations in South Asia, and a majority of its population is projected to be living in cities within three decades. This demographic shift is likely to have a significant impact on Pakistan's politics and stability. This report briefly examines urbanization as a potential driver of long-term insecurity and instability, with particular attention to the cities of Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta
Saudi Arabia's Reform Gamble
About an hour north of Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, there is a security perimeter and a turn-off. The journey from Jeddah is relatively unremarkable, with mostly desert to both sides for the bu
Public Opinion and Crisis Behavior in a Nuclearized South Asia
Research on public opinion and crisis behavior has focused largely on pressures felt by leaders who have initiated a crisis, not on leaders in target states responding to adversary provocation. Our survey experiment involving 1,823 respondents in Punjab, Pakistan, finds public support for escalating rather than de-escalating in response to such provocation. It shows how public pressures can encourage conflict even in instances where a leader has …
India's Counterforce Temptations
Is India shifting to a nuclear counterforce strategy? Continued aggression by Pakistan against India, enabled by Islamabad's nuclear strategy and India's inability to counter it, has prompted the leadership in Delhi to explore more flexible preemptive counterforce options in an attempt to reestablish deterrence. Increasingly, Indian officials are advancing the logic of counterforce targeting, and they have begun to lay out exceptions to India's l…
Voters and Foreign Policy
How much weight do voters place on foreign policy when deciding between electoral candidates? In traditional surveys in Pakistan, the vast majority of respondents identify India as an enemy and threat to Pakistan. What these studies do not assess is whether these beliefs affect voter preferences. Using a conjoint survey experiment conducted among 1,990 respondents in Pakistan, we find that respondents punish hypothetical politicians who advocate …
Safer at Sea? Pakistan's Sea-Based Deterrent and Nuclear Weapons Security
India in 2024
In 2024, India’s ascent in global politics and economics continued. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party retained its status as the dominant force in India’s politics, reaffirmed by Modi’s election to his third term as prime minister following parliamentary elections. Yet 2024 was also characterized by overreach by Modi’s government and its consequences. These setbacks were tangible but hardly transformational. Modi and his coalition will have …
Personalities, organizations, and doctrine in the Indian military
The article explains when, why, and how Indian Army doctrine has changed since 1947. It traces Indian Army doctrinal evolution from defensive defense from 1947 to the mid-1960s, toward maneuver warfare after 1971, greater mechanization in the 1980s, and an emphasis on rapid, limited offensive strikes after 2002. It argues that in the absence of civilian intervention, the Indian Army has followed patterns predicted by organizational theory. The In…
Saudi Arabia's Reform Gamble
About an hour north of Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, there is a security perimeter and a turn-off. The journey from Jeddah is relatively unremarkable, with mostly desert to both sides for the bu
Drivers of Long-Term Insecurity and Instability in Pakistan
Pakistan is already one of the most urbanized nations in South Asia, and a majority of its population is projected to be living in cities within three decades. This demographic shift is likely to have a significant impact on Pakistan's politics and stability. This report briefly examines urbanization as a potential driver of long-term insecurity and instability, with particular attention to the cities of Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta
India’s Rise as an Asian Power
Why do some powers rise while others languish? Does India have what it takes to ascend to the ranks of the world’s great powers? Sandy Gordon has an implicit answer to the first question that leads to an equivocal answer to the second. India can rise if it places its internal affairs in order and if it can transform the hostile politics of its neighborhood. Gordon is certainly correct that India has internal problems. For those who possess a utop…
Safer at Sea? Pakistan's Sea-Based Deterrent and Nuclear Weapons Security
Personalities, organizations, and doctrine in the Indian military
The article explains when, why, and how Indian Army doctrine has changed since 1947. It traces Indian Army doctrinal evolution from defensive defense from 1947 to the mid-1960s, toward maneuver warfare after 1971, greater mechanization in the 1980s, and an emphasis on rapid, limited offensive strikes after 2002. It argues that in the absence of civilian intervention, the Indian Army has followed patterns predicted by organizational theory. The In…
India's Counterforce Temptations
Is India shifting to a nuclear counterforce strategy? Continued aggression by Pakistan against India, enabled by Islamabad's nuclear strategy and India's inability to counter it, has prompted the leadership in Delhi to explore more flexible preemptive counterforce options in an attempt to reestablish deterrence. Increasingly, Indian officials are advancing the logic of counterforce targeting, and they have begun to lay out exceptions to India's l…
Tilting at windmills
This article examines decision-making mistakes made by U.S. President Nixon and national security advisor Kissinger during the 1971 India-Pakistan crisis and war. It shows that Nixon and Kissinger routinely demonstrated psychological biases that led them to overestimate the likelihood of West Pakistani victory against Bengali rebels as well as the importance of the crisis to broader U.S. policy. The evidence fails to support Nixon and Kissinger’s…
Voters and Foreign Policy
How much weight do voters place on foreign policy when deciding between electoral candidates? In traditional surveys in Pakistan, the vast majority of respondents identify India as an enemy and threat to Pakistan. What these studies do not assess is whether these beliefs affect voter preferences. Using a conjoint survey experiment conducted among 1,990 respondents in Pakistan, we find that respondents punish hypothetical politicians who advocate …
Public Opinion and Crisis Behavior in a Nuclearized South Asia
Research on public opinion and crisis behavior has focused largely on pressures felt by leaders who have initiated a crisis, not on leaders in target states responding to adversary provocation. Our survey experiment involving 1,823 respondents in Punjab, Pakistan, finds public support for escalating rather than de-escalating in response to such provocation. It shows how public pressures can encourage conflict even in instances where a leader has …
Russia–Pakistan Relations and the Constraints of Geoeconomics
Russia–Pakistan relations have improved since the end of the Cold War. While that trend is likely to continue, Russia is unlikely to transform Pakistan’s difficult strategic circumstances. Russia is insufficiently wealthy to provide enough aid and investment to revitalize Pakistan’s economy. Russia is also too concerned with maintaining access to the Indian defense market to increase defense sales to Pakistan more than modestly. This article revi…
Is India underbalancing China
US–India Relations in the Trump–Modi Era
How will US–India relations fare in a second Trump administration? While there is considerable uncertainty given the greater personalist tendencies of the US administration, this article demonstrates a substantial strategic and ideological convergence between the US and India on many—though not all—issues likely to arise through early 2029. India will have to blunt the impact of Trump’s neomercantilist impulses on trade and technology, even as Ne…
India in 2024
In 2024, India’s ascent in global politics and economics continued. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party retained its status as the dominant force in India’s politics, reaffirmed by Modi’s election to his third term as prime minister following parliamentary elections. Yet 2024 was also characterized by overreach by Modi’s government and its consequences. These setbacks were tangible but hardly transformational. Modi and his coalition will have …
Does interstate conflict affect attitudes towards domestic minorities? Evidence from India
In multiethnic societies, domestic minority groups are frequently associated with external adversaries. In such situations, external confrontations may potentially exacerbate internal ethnic conflict by increasing intolerance toward the domestic minority. Alternatively, they may result in rallying the public around a common superordinate national identity. We examine the case of India, which has a long-running rivalry with Muslim-majority Pakista…
India in 2025
This article reviews India’s political, economic, and strategic trajectory in 2025. Domestically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party consolidated political control with electoral successes, even as tensions surrounding minority rights, caste politics, and center–periphery relations persisted. Economically, India maintained robust growth despite heightened uncertainty stemming from US trade policy. The Indian economy benef…
Political science (14 works) · Economics (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (7 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East (6 works) · Development economics (5 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (4 works) · Indian Economic and Social Development (3 works)