ABSTRACT
One turns to the matter of resolving the separatist conflict in Kashmir with more than a little leeriness. This is due in part, of course, to the Kashmir conflict's deserved reputation for extreme complexity and intractability. Having defied resolution for over a half century, in other words, it is not unreasonable to think that it might continue its defiance indefinitely. Prescribing or even describing remedies, under the circumstances, can easily acquire the appearance at least of futility if not of naïveté. The leeriness is due in larger part, however, to nagging reservations about the project of conflict resolution itself—that its insistent advocacy might owe more to the optimism bred of intellectual dominance in the West of Enlightenment liberalism than to either what might be justified by the historical record or any realistic assessment of its actual future prospects.
