PLCP 3630 POLITICS OF INDIA, PAKISTAN, and AFGHANISTAN
Instructor: John Echeverri-Gent
Office: Gibson 462
Hours: Monday 1700-1830, Thursday 1600-1800 or by appt.
Phone: 924-3968
Email: johneg@virginia.edu
FALL 2013
The course is designed to provide an introduction to politics in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
These countries are home to more than a 1.4 billion people and together they account for almost 20 percent of
the world's population. Four decades of dynamic change and social turbulence has seen India and Pakistan
emerge as nuclear powers. Although the countries share centuries of common history and they emerged from
a common independence movement, their post-colonial developments have been strikingly different. In this
class, we will compare the similarities and differences of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In particular, we
will investigate why India has been able to consolidate its democracy while Pakistan and Afghanistan have
suffered through long periods of authoritarian rule. What are the sources of religious fundamentalism in each
country? Is religious fundamentalism inherently authoritarian? What is the impact of regime type on religious
fundamentalism? Can democracy accommodate fundamentalism, and if so, does it moderate it so as to make
it less violent and divisive? How can nations like India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan establish political
institutions that can accommodate their remarkable social diversity? What are the consequences of economic,
political, and cultural globalization? Each of these countries has made headlines in the news in recent days.
We will also keep up with events on the contemporary political scene.
The course requires no previous study of politics in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan but it does
require a willingness to read extensively in the field. Background in comparative politics will be helpful since
we will employ comparative analysis to address the issues raised in the course. Knowledge of American
politics is also helpful since we will frequently use our knowledge of politics in the United States as a baseline
for comparison. Classes will be a mix of lectures and discussion. Students will be encouraged to participate
in an effort to develop their opinions and ideas.
Students will be evaluated in four ways:
1. Expression of your questions and opinions plays an important role in making class a
stimulating experience for everyone. As a consequence, class participation will account for an important part
of your grade -- 10 percent of the final grade.
2. Students will form into teams of three people and give class presentations in class.
Students are free to choose their topics, but they will be scheduled so as to compliment the issues that we will
be the focus of class discussion. These presentations will last for no more than 10 minutes. The students are
strongly encouraged to include videos as part of their presentations and to them in PowerPoint. The class will
then critically discuss the presentations. The student teams will submit their PowerPoint presentations as
email attachments prior to class. The presentations and papers will count for 10 percent of your grade.
3. Two take-home, open book essays. Each will account for 20 percent of your grade.
They will be three to five pages in length. The first essay topics will be distributed at the end of class on
October 8. It will be due no later than the beginning of class on October 17. The second essay topics will
be distributed at the beginning of class on November 5. They are due no later than the beginning of class on
November 14.
4. As the final component of their grade, students will be given the option of either writing
a research paper of approximately 15-25 pages in length or writing a take-home final examination. This last
exercise will amount to 40 percent of their final grade. Students wishing to write research papers must
discuss their topics with me by no later than November 11. Final essay topics will be passed out at the end of
class on December 3. All exams and research papers should be turned in to Gibson 462 no later than
Noon on December 13.
Policy for late papers: All papers must be turned in at the deadlines. Late papers will be not be
accepted. The only exceptions are students who have legitimate medical or family excuses.
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Books available for purchase are also on reserve at Clemons library. Articles not included in these
books are available through electronic reserves linked to the ITC Toolkit website. The following books are
available for purchase at Newcomb Hall Bookstore:
Thomas Barfield. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
2010.
Katherine Boo. behind the beautiful forevers. Random House 2012:
Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan. New York: Knopf,
2012.
Atul Kohli. Poverty and Amid Plenty in the New India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Anatol Lieven. Pakistan: A Hard Country. New York: Public Affairs, 2011.
Ahmed Rashid. Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of American, Pakistan, and Afghanistan New York:
Viking, 2012.
Assignments
1. August 27 Introduction
No assignment
PART I INDIA
2. August 29 The Legacy of India’s Independence Movement
Boo pp. Prologue, 1-132.
See “Mumbai’s Slum dwellers turn rubbish into small fortunes,” at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtHi6ewEiD8
3. September 3 India’s Government Institutions
Boo, 135-244.
For balance see “Flash Mob Dance at CST”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jOqhrCfMCE
4. September 5 Gandhi and the Making of India
See Film “Gandhi”
Mitu Sengupta, “Anna Hazare and the Idea of Gandhi,” Journal of Asian Studies71:3 (August
2012) pp. 593-601.
Write a brief (1 page maximum) essay either a) reviewing Gandhi’s impact on the Independence
movement and modern India. In particular discuss what made Gandhi an effective political leader. Also
briefly consider whether these qualities would make him an effective leader today. Or b) Compare Anna
Hazare’s fight for corruption with Gandhi’s leadership for India’s independence: how are they similar and
different?
5. September 10 How did India Consolidate Its Democracy?
Rajni Kothari, “The Congress ‘System’ in India,” Asian Survey 4:12 (December 1964) pp. 1161173.
Sumit Ganguly and Rahul Mukherji, “Political Mobilization in India,” in Sumit Ganguly
and Rahul Mukherji. India Since 1980 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. pp. 109-141.
Ashutosh Varshney, “Why Democracy Survives,” Journal of Democracy 9:3 (1998)
pp.36-50.
Resources: Stuart Corbridge and John Harriss, “The Tall Men and the ‘Third Way”: Nehru Patel
and the Building of Modern India,” in Reinventing India especially pp. 43-66. Sunil Khilnani, “Nehru’s
Faith,” Economic and Political Weekly (November 30, 2002) pp. 93-99.
6. September 12 India’s Government Institutions
Katherine Adeney and Andrew Wyatt, Chapter 3 “Governing Structures” in Adeney and Wyatt
Contemporary India. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010. pp. 68-100.
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Ashutosh Varshney, “How has Indian Federalism Done?” Studies in Indian Politics 1:1 (June 2013)
pp. 43-63.
Resource: Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, “Federalism as State Formation in India:
A Theory of Shared and Negotiated Sovereignty,” International Political Science Review 31:5 pp. 1-21;
Ruchir Sharma, “The Rise of the Rest of India: How States Have Become the Engines of Growth,” Foreign
Affairs (September 2013).
7. September 17 The Decline of the Congress and India’s Changing Party System
E. Sridharan, “The Party System,” in Niraja Gopal Jayal and Pratap Bhanu Mehta (eds.)
Oxford Companion to Politics in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 117-35.
Pradeep Chhibber, “Dynastic parties: Organization, finance and impact,” Party Politics
(May 2011) pp. 1-19.
James Manor, “The Congress Party and the ‘Great Transformation’,” in Sanjay
Ruparaelia, Sanjay Reddy, John Harriss and Stuart Corbridge eds. Understanding India’s New Political
Economy: A great transformation? London: Routledge, 2011, pp. 204-220.
Resource: Vinod K. Jose, “Falling Man: Manmohan Singh at the centre of the storm,” The
Caravan (October 2011) pp. 1-17. James Traub, “The end of the Gandhis,” Foreign Policy May 2013.
8. September 19 Religion, Hindu Nationalism, and Indian Democracy
Amrita Basu, “The Changing Forces of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” in Atul Kohli and
Prema Singh (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics. London: Routledge, 2013, pp. 222229.
Edward Luce, “The Imaginary Horse: In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India pp. 143-179.
Raheel Dhattiwala and Michael Biggs, “The Political Logic of Ethnic Violence: The Anti-Muslim
Pogrom in Gujarat,” Politics & Society 40 (2012) pp. 483-516.
Resources: Poornima Joshi, “Stratagems and Soils,” The BJP prepares to bet everything on
Narendra Modi,” The Caravan (July 1, 2013); Vinod K. Jose, “The Rise of Narendra Modi,” The Caravan
(March 2012); Thomas Blom Hansen, “Introduction” The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu
Nationalism in Modern India Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999, pp. 1-15, on the relationship
between democracy and Hindu nationalism. William Gould, “The Resurgence of Communalism? 1990 to
the 2000s,” in William Gould, Religion and Conflict in Modern South Asia Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2012, pp. 269-308.
9. September 24 Clientelism, Corruption, and the State
Stuart Corbridge, “Corruption in India,” in Atul Kohli and Prema Singh (eds.) Routledge
Handbook of Indian Politics. London: Routledge, 2013, pp. 222-229.
Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, “Accountability and Corruption,” in Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen,
An Unvertain Glory: India and its Contradictions. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, pp. 81206.
Prakash Sarangi, “Can the Right to Information Help?” Journal of Democracy23:1 (January 2012)
pp. 149-54.
Resources: Sumit Ganguly, “An Enduring Threat,” Journal of Democracy 23:1 (January
2012) pp. 138-48. Steven I. Wilkinson, “Explaining changing patterns of party-voter linkages in
India,” in Herbert Kitschelt and Steven I. Wilkinson (ed.) Patrons, Clients and Policies
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 110-140. Tariq Tatchil, “Embedded Mobilization:
Nonstate Service Provision as Electoral Strategy in India,” World Politics 63:3 (July 2011) pp.
434-69.
10. September 26 Subaltern Political Mobilization: Electoral and Insurrectionary
A. Electoral Participation by Lower Castes
Christophe Jaffrelot, “Caste and the Rise of Marginalized Groups,” in Sumit Ganguly et
al (ed.) The State of India’s Democracy Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2007, pp. 67-85.
Anand Teltumbde, “Maya and Dalits in Uttar Pradesh,” Economic and Political Weekly
(April 21, 2012) pp. 10-11.
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Amit Ahuja and Pradeep Chhibber, “Why the Poor Vote in India: “If I Don’t Vote, I ma
Dead to the State,” Studies of Comparative International Development 47 (2012) pp. 389-410.
B. Insurrectionary Mobilization
Paul Staniland, “Insurgencies in India” in Atul Kohli and Prema Singh (eds.) Routledge
Handbook of Indian Politics. London: Routledge: 2013.
Megha Bahree, “The Forever War: Inside India’s Maoist Conflict,” World Policy Journal
27:2 (Summer 2010) pp. 83-89.
See “India’s Red Tide: Maoist Naxalite Guerilla’s”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUVzvt_jtg
.
11. October 1 Has India’s Economic Policy Tilted in Favor of Business?
Kohli, pp. 1-78.
Resources: Ken Auletta, “Citizens Jain: Why India’s News Paper Industry is Thriving,” The New
Yorker (October 2012) pp. 52-61.
12. October 3 Accelerated Growth and Growing Inequalities in the New India
Kohli, pp. 79-143.
“India’s Demographic Challenge: Wasting Time,” The Economist (May 11, 2013) pp. 1-8.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, “Breaking the Silence: Why we don’t talk about inequality – and how to
start again,” The Caravan (October 2012) pp. 1-13.
Resources: Jonathan Derbyshire, “Prospect interview: Amartya Sen,” Prospect Magazine July 18,
2013; Jagdish Bhagwati, “The Bhagwati-Sen Debate: An Epitaph,” Business Standard August 20, 2013.
13. October 8 Provincial Developmental Regimes and Diverse Developmental Outcomes
Kohli, pp. 144-227.
Resources: Eswaran Shridharan, “Drift and Confusion in Indian Politics” Current
History (April 2013) pp. 123-129.
*** Essay topics will be passed out at the end of class. Your essay will be due at the
beginning of class on October 17.
PART II PAKISTAN
14. October 10 Pakistan’s Uneasy Founding
Ayesha Jalal, “The Past as Presence,” in Maleeha Lodhi (ed.) New York: Columbia University
Press, 2011, pp. 7-20.
Ian Talbott, “The Pakistan Movement: Its Dynamics and Legacies,” in Pakistan: A Modern
History. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998, pp. 66-108.
Jane Perlez, “Portrait of Jinnah” Granta 112 (Autumn 2010) pp. 57-68.
Resource: Ayesha Jalal, The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Demand for
Pakistan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
October 15 Fall Break!!!
15. October 17 Understanding Pakistan: Key Issues and Actors
Lieven, pp. 3-80.
Resource: Robert D. Kaplan, “Waht is Wrong with Pakistan?” Foreign Policy (July 2012) pp.
94-99.
16. October 22 Religion and Justice in Pakistan
Lieven, pp. 83-160.
Vali R. Nasr, “International Politics, Domestic Imperatives and Identity Mobilization:
Sectarianism in Pakistan, 1979-1998,” Comparative Politics (January 2000) pp. 171-190.
17. October 24 The Pakistani Military as the Dominant Political Actor
Lieven, pp. 161-203.
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.
Sumit Ganguly and C. Christine Fair, “The Structural Origins of Authoritarianism in Pakistan,”
Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 51:1 (February 2013) pp. 122-42.
18. October 29 Pakistani Political Development
Lieven, pp. 204-55.
C. Christine Fair, “Why the Pakistan Army is Here to Stay: Prospects for Civilian
Governance?” International Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 3 (May 2011), pp. 571-588.
Resources: Heraldo Munoz, “Getting Away with Murder: Behind the Investigation of enazir
Bhutto’s Assassination,” Foreign Policy (August 19, 2013) pp. 1-8. Husain Israt, “The Role of Politics in
Pakistan’s Economy,” Journal of International Affairs 63:1 (Fall 2009) pp. 1-18.
19. October 31 The Rise of theTaleban and Muslim Terrorists
Lieven pp. 403-441.
C. Christine Fair, “Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Pakistani State,” Survival53:4 (August 2011) pp. 2952.
20. November 5 The Fight Against the Taleban
Lieven, pp. 442-488.
Graeme Blair, C. Christine Fair, Neil Malhotra, Jacob N. Shapiro, “Poverty and Support for
Militant Politics: Evidence from Pakistan,” American Journal of Political Science 57:1 (January 2013) pp.
30-48.
Ayesha Siddiqa, “Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Strategy: Separating Friends from Enemies,”
Washington Quarterly 34:1 (Winter 2010/2011) pp. 149-62.
Resources: Ahmad Rashid, Pakistan on the Brink. New York: Viking, 2012, especially pp. 2345, 160-86. Shaheen Buneri, “Dancing Girls of the Swat Valley,” World Policy Journal 28:3 (Fall 2011)
pp. 73-81.
*** Essay topics will be passed out at the end of class. Your essay will be due at the beginning of
class on November 14.
21. November 7 Pakistan’s Troubled Future
Mohammad Waseem, “Judging Democracy in Pakistan: conflict between the executive and
judiciary,” Contemporary South Asia 20:1 (2012) pp. 19-31.
C. Christine Fair, Pakistan on the Brink of a Democratic Transition?” Current History (April
2013) pp. 130-36.
Frederic Gare, “Pakistan’s foreign and security Policies after the 2013 general election: the judge,
the politician and the military,” International Affairs 89:4 (2013) pp. 987-1001.
Mira Sethi, “Watch the Throne: Nawaz Sharif on the cusp of power,” The Caravan (April 2013)
pp. 1-11.
Resources: Steve Coll, “Sporting Chance: Can a Sex Symbol and Cricket Legend Run Pakistan”
New Yorker. August 13, 2012, Vol. 88 Issue 24, p64-71; Hussain Haqqani, “Breaking up is Not Hard to Do,”
Foreign Affairs (March 2013) pp. 64-76; Stephen P. Cohen, “The Future of Pakistan,” Brookings
Institution, 2011 pp. 1-60.
PART III AFGHANISTAN
22. November 12 People and Places of Afghanistan
Barfield, pp. 1-65.
Resource: Amin Saikal, “The Status of the Shi’ite Hazara Minority,” Journal of Muslim Minority
Affairs 32:1 (March 2012) pp. 80-87.
23. November 14 Afghanistan’s Descent into Chaos
Barfield, pp. 164-270.
Resource: Hussain Salman, “Looking for ‘tribals’ without politics, ‘warlords without history: the
drug economy, development and political power in Afghanistan,” Identities 19:3 (May 2012) pp. 249-67.
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24. November 19 State Breaking and State Making in Afghanistan
Barfield, pp. 272-350.
Steve Hess, “Coming to terms with neopatrimonalism: Soviet and American nation-building
projects in Afghanistan,” Central Asian Survey 29:2 (June 2010) p. 171-87.
25. November 21 Afghanistan: Grand Dreams or Naive Illusions?
Chadrashekharan, pp. 3-129.
Resource: Sarah Lister, “Changing the Rules? State-Building and Local Government,” Journal of
Development Studies 45:6 (July 2009) pp. 990-1009
26. November 26 Learning the Harsh Realities
Chandrashekharan pp. 133-253.
Resource: Rebecca Stewart, “Afghanistan: Voiceless and Displaced,” World Policy Journal
(Summer 2012): 69-77.
November 28 Happy Thanksgiving Break!!!
27. December 3 At the Limits of Military Power
Chandrashekharan, pp. 257-333.
Resource: Neil Padukone, “India and Pakistan’s Afghan Endgames,” World Affairs 175:4
(November 2012) pp. 79-87.
*** Essay topics for the final will be passed out at the end of class. All exams and research papers
should be turned in to Gibson 462 no later than 12:00 Noon on December 13.
28. December 5 The Search for an Endgame
Karl W. Eikenberry, “The Other Side of the COIN,” Foreign Affairs 92:5 (September 2013), pp.
59-74.
Andrew Beath, Fotini Christia, Ruben Enikolopov, “Empowering Women though Development
Aid: Evidence from a Field Experiement in Afghanistan,” American Political Science Review 107 no. 3
(August 2013) pp. 540-557.
Matt Waldman, “System failure: the underlying causes of US policy-making errors in
Afghanistan,” International Affairs 89:4 (2013) pp. 825-43.
Stephen Biddle, “Ending the War in Afghanistan: How to Avoid Failure on the Installment Plan,”
Foreign Affairs (September 2013)
Resources: Nils B. Weidmann and Michael Callen, “Violence and Election Fraud: Evidence from
Afghanistan,” British Journal of Political Science 43:1 (January 2013) pp. 53-75. Resources: Norwan,
Miriam, Nasima, “Afghanistan in Three Voices” Wilson Quarterly 37:1 (Winter 2013) pp. 58-69.
Materials on Drone Warfare: Articles by Audrey Kurth Cronin and by Daniel Byman Foreign Policy (July
203) Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann, “Washington’s Phantom War,” Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug
2011, Vol. 90: 4, pp.12-18. Brian Glyn Williams, “The Cia’s Covert Predator War in Pakistan, 2004-10:
The History of an Assassination Campaign,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 33:10 (October 2010) pp.
871-92.