War and peace in South Asia: A revisionist view of India-Pakistan relations

Abstract

Although India's relations with all her neighbours have been marked by occasional tension, it is her conflict with Pakistan that gives the specific character to the state of war and peace in South Asia. The two neighbours have fought in 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999. Nuclear weapons and delivery systems that both India and Pakistan possess have enhanced the danger of war in the region. The standard view of India-Pakistan relations presents the two nation-states as natural adversaries whose antipathy towards one another is the essential consequence of Hindu-Muslim conflict. The revisionist view presented here, which draws on the construction of regional politics by the protagonists, questions the structural-realist model that underpins the standard view. The article concludes that democratisation and taking cognisance of the role of China would contribute to a comprehensive explanatory model of war and peace in South Asia.