Ethnicity and nation building in South Asia

The phenomenon of ethnicity is an intrinsic component of the socio-political reality of multi-ethnic states in South Asia as it is in most countries of the world. The major objective of this study is to provide a com parative appraisal of the dynamics of ethnic identities and movements in the South Asian region comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

Prof. Phadnis describes the manner in which ethnic groups are formed and are politicised and explains the challenges these processes pose to nation-building. She examines the diverse impulses which reinforce ethnic specificities in multi-ethnic societies and the adequacy of institutional arrangements to cope with the pulls and pressures of inter ethnic competition for a stake in the system.

Based on data collected through extensive field visits to the concerned countries, this book presents five case studies of specific ethnic conflicts in the region. In this context, the author puts forward two hypotheses. First, that ethnic identity is a significant though not sufficient requisite for evoking ethnicity. Rather, it is the mobilisation and manipulation of group identity by the leader ship that gives rise to the phenomenon of ethnicity. Second, that the greater the stakes of the community and its leadership in the power structure, the higher are the chances for building the nation as an amalgam of ethnic pluralities. A nation fashioned in this manner will be both composite and secular in nature.

Among the major features of this book are critical appraisal of various theoretical approaches to the study of ethnicity and nation-building: delineation of the ethnic composition of the South Asian region examination of the specific state structures of the countries studied; and discussion of vari ous ethnic movements these countries also of the constraints and compulsions within which different regimes handle such ethnic assertions.

This book is unique in terms of the breadth of Its canvas and its effort to situate the ethnic phenomenon in South Asia in the broader conceptual universe of ethnic pluralism. It will be of interest to scholars of international poli tics, political science and sociology, as also to policy-makers and Journalists.