The rivalry between India and Pakistan has clearly been both deep and enduring. The two sides have fought four wars since attaining independence in 1947, and have waged a low-intensity conflict in the disputed territory of Kashmir since the late 1980s. And despite recent improvements in Indo-Pakistani relations, their fundamental political and territorial disagreements remain unresolved. However, it is not obvious why the two countries' relationship has been so stubbornly antagonistic. The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry, edited by T.V. Paul, addresses this issue. Specifically, the volume asks: Why has the Indo-Pakistani rivalry been so persistent, even compared to other long-standing conflicts? How have factors at the international, state and leadership levels contributed to this outcome? And why are the prospects for achieving a negotiated settlement of the rivalry so dim?
The essays' answers vary considerably, and turn on a wide spectrum of variables. As Paul argues, scholarship on the Indo-Pakistani conflict has generally remained within the confines either of international relations or of comparative politics. This volume therefore deliberately crosses disciplinary lines, bringing together the insights of a diverse set of comparativists and international relations specialists.
The result is a rich compendium of discussions that conveys the multi-dimensional complexity of the Indo-Pakistani conflict. As Daniel S. Geller's essay explains, India and Pakistan are predisposed to conflict by numerous structural factors. For example, the two countries' geographical contiguity creates issues of contention and increases opportunities for confrontation. The combination of Indian democracy and Pakistani authoritarianism lowers the likelihood of conflict resolution based on shared non-violent norms, or institutional constraints on war making. The two states' relatively low levels of economic development reduce the opportunity costs of war, thereby making it a more attractive foreign policy option. And an unstable Indo-Pakistani military balance encourages aggression designed either to improve relative standing, or to protect against a growing threat.
But as other essays make clear, these structural factors exacerbate deeper, more fundamental tensions between the two countries. Deep causes of the rivalry lie in such factors as India and Pakistan's ideas of their own nationhood. For example, as Vali Nasr argues, Pakistan's national identity is based not on values indigenous to its culture or civilization, but rather upon an opposition to the idea of India. Thus, the existence of Pakistan necessarily implies tension with the Indian state. This tension is most clearly evident in the two countries' dispute over the territory of Kashmir. As Stephen M. Saideman explains, Pakistan's irredentist claim to Jammu and Kashmir drives violent Pakistani attempts to acquire the territory. These attempts spur forceful Indian resistance, which further stokes Kashmiri separatism. Thus Indo-Pakistani conflict has roots in the two countries' very conceptions of statehood, even apart from problematic structural variables.
The book's contributors argue that some of the factors that could have played a constructive role in dampening the Indo-Pakistani conflict have actually worsened tensions between the two countries. And the volume's explanatory breadth comes at the expense of an easily discernable central argument. However, the book makes a useful contribution in bringing together a range of scholars in both international relations and comparative politics, whose diverse viewpoints and expertise illuminate the spectrum of factors underlying conflict in South Asia. And while some readers might wish that the volume offered a more parsimonious argument, its explanatory diversity probably better represents the complex reality of Indo-Pakistani relations.
The authors are generally pessimistic as to the prospects for near-term resolution of the Indo-Pakistani dispute. Despite recent improvements in relations between the two countries, the fundamental factors driving Indo-Pakistani conflict, such as conventional asymmetry, national identity, irredentism and the presence of nuclear weapons, are unlikely to change soon. Thus, as Paul F. Diehl, Gary Goertz and Daniel Saeedi suggest, even major political shocks such as international power shifts, civil war or domestic regime change may fail to transform the Indo-Pakistani relationship.
The essays in The India-Pakistan Conflict do not offer new empirical evidence on the Indo-Pakistani rivalry, or break much theoretical ground. And the volume's explanatory breadth comes at the expense of a single, easily discernable central argument. However, the book makes an important contribution in bringing together a range of scholars in both international relations and comparative politics, whose diverse viewpoints and expertise illuminate the spectrum of factors underlying conflict in South Asia. And while some readers might wish that the volume offered a single, parsimonious argument, its explanatory diversity probably better represents the complex reality of Indo-Pakistani relations. It also serves as a sobering reminder of why this multi-layered conflict has proven to be so difficult to resolve.
