Diego Abenante

Diego Abenante is an associate professor of South Asian history at the University of Trieste. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pisa, having studied at the University of Trieste and Royal Holloway College (University of London). He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a member of the European Association for South Asian Studies as well as the Italian Society for International History. He served as Associate Director of Studies at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and has taught seminars at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, INALCO, and the Center for Indian and South Asian Studies (CEIAS) in Paris. As a historian specializing in contemporary South Asia, his work focuses in particular on Pakistan, the history of Islam in South Asia, civil-military relations, minorities, and the regional dynamics of the Cold War.

The project

Title: Nuclear Cooperation, Political Authority, and European Diplomacy: France and Pakistan in the Cold War (1973–1978)

"This project examines the failed nuclear cooperation between France and Pakistan in the mid-1970s as a critical episode in the history of late Cold War international relations, state formation, and the politics of technology. By focusing on the 1976 Franco-Pakistani nuclear agreement and its cancellation in 1978, the research analyses nuclear cooperation as a political and social process shaped by internal struggles over authority within Pakistan and by the diplomatic calculations of a European medium power operating under increasing non-proliferation constraints. Rather than approaching Pakistan’s nuclear program solely through the lenses of strategic studies or proliferation, the project situates nuclear policy at the intersection of domestic political authority, international realignments, and ideological narratives. In doing so, it places France at the centre of the analysis, highlighting the role of European actors in shaping global nuclear governance beyond the superpower framework. This project advances the argument that nuclear cooperation offers a privileged vantage point from which to reassess the relationship between political authority and international alignment in Pakistan. The mid-1970s constituted a critical juncture: India’s emergence as a regional hegemon after the 1971 war and its 1974 “peaceful nuclear explosion” confronted Pakistan with manifest strategic vulnerability, while simultaneously exposing the limits of U.S. security guarantees. In this context, Islamabad sought alternative partners among non-superpower states, turning to France as a key supplier of nuclear technology."

Selective Bibliography

• “The Pakistani Community in Italy: Religion, Kinship, and Authority”, in S. Baldin e M. Zago (eds.), Europe of Migrations: Policies, Legal Issues and Experiences, EUT, Trieste, 2017, pp. 329-342.
• “La controversia anti-Ahmadīyya e il conflitto per l’autorità nel Pakistan contemporaneo”, in: E. Giunchi, M. Golfetto, L. Osti (eds.), L’autorità nei paesi musulmani, Jaca Book, Milano, 2018.
• “Inherited charisma and personal qualities: Sayyids and religious reform in 19th century Multan”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Cambridge University Press, 30/3, 2020, pp. 417-432.
• “Etnicità Pashtun e mobilitazione politica nella regione afgano-pachistana”, Poliarchie/Polyarchies, 3/1, 2020, pp. 4-25.
• “Evolution of the Civil-Military Relationship in Pakistan in the Post-Covid Era”, Il Politico, 1, LXXXVIII, 2023, pp. 96-106.
• “Tra eredità e cambiamento: le relazioni tra Stati Uniti e Asia meridionale fino alla presidenza Trump”, Il Pensiero Storico, 17, 2025, pp. 161-176.