The Idea of Pakistan

by Cohen, Stephen P.

• ISBN13: 9780815715023
• ISBN10: 0815715021
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-21
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

In recent years Pakistan has emerged as a strategic player on the world stage --both as a potential rogue state armed with nuclear weapons and as an American ally in the war against terrorism. But our understanding of this country is superficial.To probe beyond the headlines, Stephen Cohen, author of the prize-winning India: Emerging Power, offers a panoramic portrait of this complex country --from its origins as a homeland for Indian Muslims to a militarydominated state that has experienced uneven economic growth, political chaos, sectarian violence, and several nuclear crises with its much larger neighbor, India.Pakistan's future is uncertain. Can it fulfill its promise of joining the community of nations as a moderate Islamic state, at peace with its neighbors, or could it dissolve completely into a failed state, spewing out terrorists and nuclear weapons in several directions? The Idea of Pakistan will be an essential tool for understanding this critically important country.

Author Biography

Stephen Philip Cohen is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program at the Brookings Institution.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(14)
ONE The Idea of Pakistan	15	(24)
TWO The State of Pakistan	39	(58)
THREE The Army's Pakistan	97	(34)
FOUR Political Pakistan	131	(30)
FIVE Islamic Pakistan	161	(40)
SIX Regionalism and Separatism	201	(30)
SEVEN Demographic, Educational, and Economic Prospects	231	(36)
EIGHT Pakistan's Futures	267	(34)
NINE American Options	301	(28)
Notes	329	(40)
Index	369