Pakistan A Modern History

Pakistan A Modern History





This book fills the need for a broad, historically sophisticated understanding of Pakistan, a country at fifty which is understood by many in the West only in terms of stereotypes–the fanatical, authoritarian and reactionary “other” which is unfavorably compared to a tolerant, democratic and progressive India.
 There is a need at the time of Pakistan's golden jubilee for it to be taken seriously in its own right as a country of 130 million people. It is in reality a complex plural society which although greatly shaped by the colonial inheritance and circumstances of its birth is also experiencing rapid change.The text examines the historical background to Pakistan's ongoing problems of political instability, poor governance and military intervention.
 It understands Pakistan's failure to consolidate democracy in terms of its inheritances from the colonial era, weak institutionalisation and failure to accommodate pluralism.... Consequently it harbors multiple conceptions of its statehood, citizenship, governance, and identity. Conventional explanations of Pakistan's genesis ascribe a central role to religion as a driver of Indian Muslims' nationalist aspirations (e.g., seeTalbot, 1998;Verma, 2001;Cohen, 2004). More recent historical scholarship, however, points to deeper disagreements over post-colonial state structures and scales of governance (between the Indian
 Muslim political leadership in the All-India Muslim League and the more secularist nationalist leadership of the Indian National Congress) as the main driver of secessionist politics in colonial India (e.g., seeJalal, 1994;Singh, 2009). ......
 The first national level election was held in Pakistan on the basis of direct universal franchise under the presidency of another military dictator, General Yahaya Khan, in 1970(Baxter, 1971). The results of election 1970 led to the creation of Bangladesh (Talbot, 1998). In 1977, the second national elections were conducted. ...#fastitlinks.com

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