Trust Building Workshop

A workshop on trustbuilding was organized on February 28 and March 1, 2011 in New Delhi. Professor Nicholas J. Wheeler, Chair, the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University facilitated the workshop. On the first day of the workshop Prof. Wheeler delivered a lecture on The Challenges to Trust-Building in Nuclear Worlds. The lecture examined how trust can develop between states in varying degrees of nuclear rivalry and enmity. Citing the case of nuclear rapprochment that occured between Argentina and Brazil in the second half of the 1980s, he explored the relevance of the Argentine-Brazilian case for building trust in the India-Pakistan nuclear context.

On the second day, participants explored the theme of Trust-building in Contemporary Conflicts through role playing exercises - simulating a future round of bilateral negotiations between Indian and Pakistani decision-makers; and one where participants worked together to identify possible trust-building moves that either India or Pakistan could make to transform relations. The final session saw participants reflect on what they had learnt from the Workshop.