Author: Ajay Darshan Behera
Mathew Joseph C/
Editor(s): Ajay Darshan Behera / Mathew Joseph C
Publisher: Knowledge World
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 384
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8187966254
Description
The terrorist attacks of September 11 and the US reaction to it in the form of a war on terrorism have completely transformed the strategic environment in the Southern Asian region. Pakistan, due to its geo-political location and past policies, had to bear a significant impact of the war on terrorism. There is no aspect of Pakistan’s state, society, foreign policy and security that has not been affected by the war on terrorism. This volume is an effort to understand the evolving strategic environment and how Pakistan is placed within that context.
The book is divided into four sections. The first section is on the evolving strategic environment and how Pakistan has responded to it. There are multiple views in this section. While some argue that Pakistan has managed fairly well in adjusting to the new realities, some argue that it has squandered strategic advantages. The second section is on Pakistan’s internal political dynamics. The chapters try to analyse the impact of the changing strategic environment on Pakistan’s internal political processes and some important elements of the Pakistani political life like Islamisation, religious political parties and the army. The third section is on Pakistan and Kashmir. This section has chapters that try to analyze the changes in the strategic environment for Kashmir in the strategic environment for Kashmir and Pakistan’s strategy to deal with Kashmir in the changing context. The section also tries to provide a historical sense of Pakistan’s past policies in order to contrast with the changes that have come about since September 11. The fourth section is on the Pakistan-India context. The section does not present a holistic perspective of India-Pakistan relations, but there are points of view about the problems in India-Pakistan relations and how to deal with Pakistan.
The four sections in the book are the four important questions in the minds of most analysts on Pakistan. The book provides a comprehensive perspective as well as some interesting points of views on Pakistan. It brings together the views of a mix of very senior Indian scholars, analysts, practitioners and policy-makers who have followed Pakistan for a fairly long time. This volume will be of interest of academics, policy-makers, senior corporate leaders, journalists and students.