Book Review: Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Conflict Management in Kashmir: State-People Relations and Peace
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881719857885 |
| Published date | 01 October 2019 |
| Date | 01 October 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews 311
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Conflict Management in Kashmir:
State-People Relations and Peace (Delhi, India: Cambridge University
Press, 2017), 162 pp. `595, ISBN-13: 978-1108423892 (Hardback).
DOI: 10.1177/0020881719857885
The book begins with the premise that conflict management in Kashmir is possi-
ble through initiatives like intra-Kashmir trade, if the state chooses to do so, even
in the face of difficulties. The argument put forth by the author is that the state has
to take initiatives which will create a constituency of stakeholders, the gainers,
who will benefit from state’s initiative and hence will act as a force against group
of people who the author categorizes as spoilers. Spoilers, argues the author, is the
section of the Kashmiri society who benefit from the continuation of the conflict.
In the conflict management strategy, state has to continuously push towards
increasing the constituency of gainers and reducing those of spoilers.
The book is based on a combination of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence
used by the author who tries to weave together theory and empirical data to validate
his hypothesis about management of the Kashmir conflict. The book analyzes various
theories of conflict and locates the conflict in Kashmir among the protracted social
conflicts. It is argued that the conflicts, which arose post decolonization, need a
regional contextualization instead of seeing them as part of the international conflicts
and balance of power. The framework of protracted social conflict developed by Azar
(1985), Brown (1996) and Dudley and Miller (1998) is extensively used by the author.
The criticism of other theories of conflict, as noted by the author, is that they
neglect various local aspects which were endemic in the non-western developing
world at the time of decolonization, end of Cold War and so on. The author calls
those theories as eurocentric. Hence, his use of protracted social conflict theory is
based on criticism of other conflict analysis theories.
In his analysis of origins of conflict, the author discusses in detail various fac-
tors that provoke protracted social conflicts. One is state consolidation through
homogenization. Mahapatra argues that insistence of modern states on homogene-
ity to promote state consolidation ends up creating conflicts in postcolonial states.
This, he attributes to situations where borders were drawn without due considera-
tion for socially constructed identities of groups and the policy of homogenization,
led to outbreak of intra-state conflicts among different social groups.
Another factor behind such conflicts is rival versions of territorial nationalism
and group nationalism. The conflict starts when the territorial form of nationalism
becomes dominant and undermines group identity-based nationalism. The inability
of the political elite to harmonize two competing nationalisms leads to the breakout
of protracted social conflict.
Mahaptra argues that Indian states’ aggressive pursuit of state consolidation and
its obsession with state security have led to isolation of minority groups. This isola-
tion has pushed the groups to consolidate, mobilize and assert as a nation. This
assertion of a separate national identity competes with the dominant narrative of
Indian nation state. From the protracted social conflict perspective, Mahapatra
employs in his analysis that the identity needs are determining factors in the study
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