Regionalism and sub-regionalism in state politics

Most of the literature on nation-building pub lished before and during the early 1960's either ignored the issue of sub-regional identities or as sumed that they constituted a minor obstacle in the process of national integration. The recent emergence of sub-group identities and their politi cal implication have challenged the earlier opti mism of many social scientists who in their ana lytical models considered the cleavages based on language, religion, race or region as a transitional phenomenon which would disappear as a result of the impact of modernisation, when the tradition I will give way to modernity.

The author in this book on the contrary, tries to prove on the basis of field study that sub-re gionalism is the by-product of the processes of modernisation. It unleashes numerous new forces, and may create certain problems to the nation builders but not necessarily prove anti-thetical to the processes of nation-building.