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Since Pakistan was founded in 1947, its army has played a key role in state affairs. The country has been locked in an enduring rivalry with India, with the primary aim of settling the Kashmir issue. To that end, Pakistan fought three wars over Kashmir-in 1947, 1965, and 1999. Today, the army continues to prosecute this policy under the security of its ever-expanding nuclear umbrella. Pakistan continues to see itself as India's equal and demands the world do the same. The methods that the army uses to enforce this self-perception have brought international opprobrium upon Pakistan and its army. In recent years, their erstwhile proxies have turned their guns on the Pakistani state itself. Why does the army persist in pursuing these revisionist policies that have come to imperil the very viability of the state itself? In Fighting to the End, C. Christine Fair argues that the answer lies, at least partially, in the strategic culture of the army itself. She concludes that, from the army's view of history, it is victorious as long as it can resist India's purported drive for regional hegemony as well as the territorial status quo.
This book investigates why the Pakistani army persists in revisionist policies that threaten the state's viability despite significant international and domestic consequences. C. Christine Fair, a scholar specializing in South Asian political and military affairs, utilizes extensive historical analysis and institutional examination to argue that the army's strategic culture is the primary driver of its behavior. She posits that the military's internal narrative of history and its perception of India as an existential threat compel it to maintain a confrontational stance, regardless of the risks to the nation's stability.
What You Will Find
Experts in South Asian security studies frequently cite this work as a definitive analysis of the Pakistani military's institutional mindset. Readers often note the academic rigor and the dense, evidence-based approach Fair employs to explain complex geopolitical behaviors.
Page Count:
364
Publication Date:
2014-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0199401136
ISBN-13:
9780199401130
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