Territorial politics in South Asia: Between territorial accommodation and majoritarianism

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Abstract

The states of South Asia have not adopted uniform strategies in how they manage territorial divisions. This is especially true for the cases of India and Pakistian, despite the fact that they both used the Government of British India Act (1937) as their interim constitutions after Partition. The chapter examines how India has sought to manage territorial cleavages, before comparing this with Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In all of these cases it was difficult to navigate between the accommodation of plurinational difference and the association of the state with a majority group; be it the Hindus in India (or Nepal), the Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka or the Punjabis in Pakistan. Hence, while territorial self-rule is recognized as necessary for the implementation and making of policies in often large and complex polities; conceding such autonomy to accommodate plurinational difference has been more problematic.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Territorial Politics
EditorsKlaus Detterbeck , Eve Hepburn
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Chapter25
Pages371-387
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9781784718763
ISBN (Print)9781784718770
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Aug 2018

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