Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation

by Christophe Jaffrelot (Editor)

Overview

This volume, authored by Pakistani and Western scholars, focuses on a related set of questions. The first concern the ethnic tensions within Pakistan. The Mohajir movement is examined as well as the Pashtun and Baloch nationalisms. One of the main reasons for the centrifugal forces lies in the 'Punjabization' of the country that is also scrutinized.

The second focus is on the country's complex position within the South Asian region. Kashmir has been for years the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan.. Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan twenty years ago, Pakistan has been also one of the main players in the Afghan war; especially after it supported the Taleban.

Regional tensions are obviously related to ethnic and sectarian conflicts within the country. Tehran supports those Shia groups involved in violent conflicts with their Sunni counterparts in Punjab. And the Pashtuns of the North West Frontier Province have always entertained close links with their Afghan 'brothers'.

The volume concludes by examining Pakistan's foreign policy, including the dialectic between domestic and foreign policy and the role of the army.

Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation shows how Pakistan is involved in regional tensions and how it is itself undermined by a high level of ethnic tension. The book provides an up-to- date account of the country's extraordinarily complicated political tapestry which throws up so many questions - the definition of identity, the intersection of religious and ethnic factors, a deeply flawed institutionalization of democracy, control of the state, and the potentially explosive interaction of regional and domestic politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781842771174
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/01/2002
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Research fellow at CNRS, Christophe Jaffrelot is deputy director of the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) in Paris. He teaches South Asia politics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Paris. He is the editor-in-chief of Critique Internationale.
Research fellow at CNRS, Christophe Jaffrelot is deputy director of the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) in Paris. He teaches South Asia politics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Paris. He is the editor-in-chief of Critique Internationale.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Failed State: Ethnic Conflicts and Sectarianism
1. The Punjabization of Pakistan: Myth or Reality - Ian Talbot
2. The Mohajir Issue - Yunas Samad
3. The New Religious Groups - Saeed Sahfqat
4. Islam, the State and the Rise of Sectarian Militancy - S.V.R. Nasr
5. Interpreting Ethnic Movements in Pakistan - Christophe Jaffrelot

Part 2: At the Crossroads of Regional Tensions
6. The Indian Syndrome: Between Kashmir and the Nuclear Predicament - Jean-Luc Racine
7. The Islamic Dimension of the Kashmir Insurgency - Sumit Ganguly
8. The Regional Dimension of Sectarian Conflicts in Pakistan - Mariam Abou Zahab
9. Pakistan and the Taleban - Olivier Roy
10. The Taleban Factor in Regional Politics - Gilles Dorronsoro
11. The Geopolitics of Pakistan's Energy Supply - Frederic Grare

Part 3: State Without a Foreign Policy?
12. The Dialectic between Domestic and Foreign Policy - Mohammed Waseem
13. The 'Multivocal' State: The Kashmir Politics of Pakistan - Amelie Blom
14. Does the Army Shape Pakistan's Foreign Policy? - Ian Talbot
15. Conclusion: And Yet It Exists - Pierre Lafrance

Editorial Reviews

Thoughtful essays on the problems that Pakistan has had in achieving a coherent national identity and becoming a stable nation.” —Foreign Affairs

From the Publisher

These are thoughtful essays on the problems that Pakistan has had in achieving a coherent national identity and becoming a stable nation. The initial rationale for separating Pakistan from India was the presumed need to provide a homeland for the otherwise minority Muslims in an overwhelmingly Hindu India. But Muslim identity was never sufficient to make Pakistan into a well-functioning nation; Islam is central to far too many other countries to be the exclusive basis of Pakistan's sense of national identity. Over time, hostility toward India also proved inadequate as a unifying force. The inescapable fact is that Pakistanis are divided not only by different variations of Islam but also by a host of other ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and social differences.

Foreign Affairs