ABSTRACT
At the heart of conflict in South Asia lies India and Pakistan’s ongoing dispute over Kashmir, a 90,000 square-mile territory located in the northern reaches of the subcontinent, abutting India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China. This chapter examines the Kashmir dispute from its eruption in the wake of Indian independence to the present day. I show that the Kashmir problem is, at root, a dispute over ideas – ideas about the source, meaning, and legitimacy of Indian and Pakistani statehood. I also demonstrate that, despite its ideational origins, the dispute has had severe material consequences, including decades of Indo-Pakistani hostility, three wars, a festering insurgency, and the potential for nuclear confrontation. As a result of these ideational and material factors, the Kashmir problem is unlikely to be resolved soon, even in an environment of improving Indo-Pakistani relations. For the foreseeable future, simply avoiding major conflict over Kashmir may be the best that either side can hope for.
