Book Reviews Pakistan: Nation, Nationalism and the State

Abstract

The book under review is a compilation of thirteen articles written by different authors belonging to both Pakistan and abroad. The book is edited by Christophe Jaffrelot who is a French writer and has worked extensively on subcontinental political issues. The present book addresses various issues of Pakistan political history and links them to one central question, i.e., the question of identity. The different writers of the articles included in the book trace the identity issue in their respective manners while addressing the political, religious, social and geo-political dimensions of Pakistan. If one tries to connect all the arguments and seeks to generalize the central argument of the book one would say that it is Pakistan’s search for identity which runs as the linking thread behind the issues confronted by it, i.e., issues of regionalism, lack of democracy, foreign policy challenges etc.