Dear all,

Katharine Adeney, my illustrious predecessor as Chair of the Politics of South Asia Specialist Group of the PSA, has published a new book.  It is entitled Federalism and Ethnic Conflict Regulation in India and Pakistan (Palgrave 2006).  Please see details below.  Our congratulations.

Lawrence



Dr Katharine Adeney's new book is titled Federalism and Ethnic Conflict Regulation in India and Pakistan.  It was published by Palgrave USA in December 2006, and will be available for purchase in the UK in February 2007 at http://www.palgrave.com/products/Catalogue.aspx?is=1403971862.   

In this book, Adeney demonstrates that institutional design, rather than the role of religion, is the most important explanatory variable in understanding the different types and intensities of conflict in India and Pakistan.  Deploying an innovative methodological approach, Adeney focuses on the rationale behind the creation and different designs of federal and consociational structures in the two countries.  Deftly interweaving historical narrative with an analysis of the salient cleavages in both countries, Adeney examines the politics of institutional design and ethnic conflict regulation, as well as the extent to which previous constitutional choices explain current conflicts. Dr Katharine Adeney is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sheffield.   She is the editor (with Lawrence Sáez) of Coalition Politics and Hindu Nationalism (2005) and has published in Political Studies, India Review, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics and Ethnopolitics.

Table of contents
Comparative Federalism and Ethnic Conflict: A Theoretical Examination * Federal Plans in Pre-independence India * The Federal "Problem" in South Asia: Institutional Design before Partition * Partition: Differences in Federal Design * Federal Segregation or Multiculturalism? * Federal (in)Stability in India * Federal (in)Stability in Pakistan * Future Prospects for India and Pakistan and Lessons for Ethnically Divided Societies

Praise for Federalism and Ethnic Conflict Regulation in India and Pakistan
"Katharine Adeney has written a book of exceptional analytical clarity.  Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this study moves beyond the tired clichés that have afflicted much of the comparative scholarship on India and Pakistan.  Explaining why federal structures are sometimes able to manage diversity (and sometimes not), Adeney provides an original and historically informed account of institutions as both cause and effect--as a reflection of social realities as well as key determinants of political behavior.  This is a book of significance well beyond South Asian studies."
--Robert Jenkins, Professor of Political Science, Birkbeck College, University of London

"Katharine Adeney's searching and finely nuanced study argues that federalism and consociationalism take many forms. Their achievement as strategies for dealing with ethnic conflict varies with context. Her historically informed analysis makes an important contribution to our understanding of federalism and consociationalism in general, while the particular cases, India's relative success and Pakistan's relative failure, illuminate the contextual quality of causality."
--Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Professor of Political Science Emerita, University of Chicago

"Katharine Adeney's book deserves an enthusiastic welcome for several reasons.  Comparative research on Pakistan and India is a rarity--and it is rarer still to see analyses that are as penetrating and dispassionate as this one.  Her discussion of 'ethnic' conflict is extremely valuable because--unlike many that have recently appeared--it breaks 'ethnicity' down into linguistic and religious dimensions.  And it also demonstrates that what sometimes appear to be 'ethnic' conflicts are actually rooted in disputes over material issues, such as the control of resources.  Finally, this is a major and subtle contribution to the literature on comparative federalism.  It is unusual for a book--especially a first book--to enrich our understanding on so many fronts; but that is what this one does."
--James Manor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex  

"Adeney's astute comparison of India and Pakistan is an important addition to the literature explaining that institutions matter to the democratic health of the countries that adopt them."
--Donald L. Horowitz, James B. Duke Professor of Law and Political Science, Duke University

This is the JISC e-mail list for the Politics of South Asia Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association, chaired by Dr Lawrence Saez.  If you do not want to receive further postings from this group please e-mail [log in to unmask]