The Difficult Politics of Peace : Rivalry in Modern South Asia

In The Difficult Politics of Peace, Christopher Clary traces the India-Pakistan rivalry from both countries'' independence in 1947 to the present. Drawing on personal interviews and recently declassified documents, Clary offers new insights into the political struggles of Indian and Pakistani national leaders as they sought to navigate domestic politics and international politics simultaneously, and in so doing reveals how the causes of war and peace are inextricably linked to political circumstances within rival states.

A sweeping and theoretically original analysis of the India-Pakistan rivalry from 1947 to the present.Since their mutual independence in 1947, India and Pakistan have been engaged in a fierce rivalry. Even today, both rivals continue to devote enormous resources to their military competition even as they face other pressing challenges at home and abroad. Why and when do rival states pursue conflict or cooperation? In The Difficult Politics of Peace, Christopher Clary provides a systematic examination of war-making and peace-building in the India-Pakistan rivalry from 1947 to the present. Drawing upon new evidence from recently declassified documents and policymaker interviews, the book traces India and Pakistan''s complex history to explain patterns in their enduring rivalry and argues that domestic politics have often overshadowed strategic interests. It shows that Pakistan''s dangerous civil-military relationship and India''s fractious coalition politics have frequently stymied leaders that attempted to build a more durable peace between the South Asian rivals. In so doing, Clary offers a revised understanding of the causes of war and peace that brings difficult and sometimes dangerous domestic politics to the forefront.