In life R^2′s will be low

In life there is never a good fit. The best lesson. Ok I am done with pseudo-Mathematics-Philosophy ramblings. I hope everyone is having a peaceful night.

Short story time (suggest a title if you like)

It was unnamed street in an unnamed city. It was almost dreamlike. Stones littered the road. It was evident that something had happened. There was a slight whiff of smoke in the air. As he was walking down this unnamed street in this unnamed city in a daze, he realised that he had that dream again the previous night. He closed his eyes to remember more easily. It helped him somehow.

He was trying to draw the contours of her face in his mind. She was there, he remembered. He had spent a long time looking for Her. He had walked through the endless labyrinth that was his mind searching for Her. The whole night he had walked in his dream. He remembered it was a party. It was a fancy party and everyone was there. He didn’t care about everyone though, he wanted to see Her.

He opened his eyes. It was good; he had remembered the dream. He looked around him and observed with some amusement that someone had set fire to a tire. That would explain the whiff of smoke. Only his senses were dulled and so he couldn’t appreciate the pungent stench that a burning tire emits. He was aware of the fact that something was going around him. He did not remember how he ended up in that unnamed street. It was like a dream. Only he knew it wasn’t. In his dreams he looked for Her. That’s what he did. This was not a dream.

He started walking. It seemed like the right thing to do. There was this tension in the air. Something had happened. He still did not remember how he got to where he was, but he was still content that he could remember her face. Or almost remember it at least. He did not want to forget it.  He could hear people shouting slogans. But it seemed like it was coming from a far place.

The street was a long one. It was empty except for him. It was a little difficult walking on it because of the stones. He wondered how the stones got there. Did they remember at least how they ended up there? He realised he was making no sense. But at the same time he wondered nonetheless.

He focused more on the slogans. Now that he was trying to hear them properly he realised that they weren’t coming from that far off. Perhaps the unnamed street after this particular unnamed street. He would find out. He wanted to find out.

He trudged along. He thought of the dream again. It was hard not to think of it. He had been thinking about it for a long time.

He decided to try and remember Her again. He duly stopped and closed his eyes.

He succeeded this time as well. But her face looked detached, why did it look detached? He did not know. He opened his eyes and continued walking.

He avoided the burning tire.  He then stopped to admire it for a second. That’s something one didn’t get to see a lot – a burning tire.

His admiration did not last for long. He realised the burning tire was giving off an unpleasant odour. Perhaps his senses weren’t so dull after all. He decided to continue walking.

He did not have to walk for long. He realised he was about to die soon. He realised this with nonchalance. He had already accepted he was going to die. He could make out what the slogans were. They must not be far.

He decided to think about his dream again. He remembered walking along the maze that was his dream asking himself “Where is she?” He was looking for Her. He met a lot of people along the way but never Her. It bothered him. He spent the whole dream looking for Her and then he finally found Her by the door. She was waiting. Perhaps for him? Probably not.

She looked detached. She was somewhere far away. He remembered She wanted to leave. He did not want Her to go but he knew She still would. That made him depressed. He did not want Her to go at all.

He had found them. Brown men with saffron bands tied to their heads. They were screaming about their good. Who was a good god. They had swords in their hands and they wanted to protect the honour of their good god. He realised that saffron wasn’t supposed to be his colour. It was, apparently, green. He knew they would find out; he was circumcised. Apparently, that was important as well.

He saw them look at him with vitriolic eyes.

He thought of his dream again. She always left. Just when he found Her each night she always left. He did not want to stop his dream, but he always woke up at that particular point. He did not want Her to leave.

As they walked menacingly towards him, he welcomed the fact that he was about to die. Hadn’t someone said that dying was just like dreaming forever? He did not want his dream to end. He did not want Her to leave.

He looked at their bubbling passion, their bloodlust, their impatience to rip into him because he had a different god, if any. He smiled. He wanted to dream again. He looked at them and smiled. He closed his eyes and anticipated the feeling of being free. An imaginary orchestra reached a crescendo in his mind as he got lynched. A magnificent crescendo.

And then he was free. He could dream.

A Hard Place

You know you’re in a strange situation if for the following reasons you find that the best person that will listen to you is yourself:

1. You can’t speak to your close ones because all they will do is freak out, and that’s probably the second last thing you need at the moment.
2. You can’t speak to people that have something to do with how you feel because they will either
• Get mad and try to argue at every little point or
• Act cold and detached. This is definitely the last thing that you need at this point.
3. You can’t speak to your very good friends because you feel like you have bothered them enough. They must be tired of you now anyway.
4. You can’t speak to your decent friends because you just don’t feel like blabbering about yourself to everyone.

This situation, as the title suggests, is a very hard place. Sometimes speaking to yourself in the shower helps but then you ask yourself: “am I really speaking to myself… in the shower?” So that has its limitations as well. Speaking to yourself in the road is a definite no no; you don’t want the rest of the world thinking you’re schizophrenic. Speaking to yourself when you are alone and not in the shower could do the trick, but to tell you the truth it gets a little boring to speak to someone who doesn’t really reply. Even though they understand you REALLY well.

At this moment you realise that writing stuff down would be a superb idea. But being the vain individuals that we are, it’s suddenly not as appealing if no one is going to read it anyway. So you reach a compromise. You complain about the fact that there is no one to speak to on a public domain without really divulging anything concrete. Et voila, you haven’t really done anything useful about the main problem, but somehow you feel a little better (the tiniest bit honestly, but you take what you get eh?)

A new year

And yet again a year has gone by. I remember reading something to the effect of “the years go fast, and the days go so slow” somewhere. Actually that’s lyrics to a Modest Mouse song. But that’s diverting off topic. The point is that yet another year is over and I stand poised to move into a new phase of my life, in a new city, in new surroundings and under new circumstances. And now I again get the feeling that the days are trudging along, while at the same time knowing in my heart that at this time next year I will be yet again marvelling at how fast the years go by.

But it’s all piecing together now. I will see Incubus in a few months, I will study something I like a lot, and live in the City of Lights (Paris.) Last year ended with more of a whimper than a bang, the only highlight being a visit from my mother and sister to London. But hopefully this year will live up to its promises. The course sounds exciting, it already feels good to be in Paris etc. And I’m writing again of course

“I would have stolen you a whole orchestra.”

Development in Gujarat?

With elections taking place in four Indian states currently, there has been an overdose of “development” propaganda in the Indian media. I have read the word development so many times and in so many outlets and articles that it’s almost nauseating. Narendra Modi, the BJP poster-boy, has evidently taken credit for this unique development (it’s contagious I tell you) in election campaigning  and is exhorting voters in other states to vote for his party and indirectly vote for “Gujarat’s development model.”

Now, I’ve lived in Gujarat for a long time before I moved out of India. I’ve heard this story a lot of times. And don’t get me wrong, there have been some changes in the Gujarati economy. What I’ve been wondering about for a very long time is whether what I saw in Gujarat was merely economic growth, or investment driven growth to be more precise, rather than the slightly more elusive phenomenon of development. Of course, there has been phenomenal growth, all over India for that matter, but I feel development seems to be lagging. Case in point: you must have all heard of the deplorable sex ratio in Gujarat or the fact that nutritional poverty in Gujarat is higher than the Indian average. Is that a sign of a developed region? Of course, those are only a few examples, and there is no empirical study that proves (or disproves for that matter) this hypothesis. So I told myself, lets look for a few and write a blog entry about it.

You might feel that if the above was an introduction, it was rather long. I don’t fault you. However, here is where you were wrong. That was the main body. Reason: I found NO such academic article/study! I checked everywhere I could, and I generally pride myself on being able to find exactly what I want, but there is hardly any literature on this aspect since Narendra Modi came to power.

You have a whole nation espousing the benefits of development led politics, politicians using the newly created development plank to campaign for votes, the media going feral, as usual quoi, over this new and great change in Indian politics, parties accusing one another of not doing enough for development, and above all, (yes I don’t like Narendra Modi, hence I am not objective in this matter) the Gujarat CM smugly taking credit for it all. But goddamnit I learned in high school that growth DOES NOT mean development and I find nothing that would make me believe that this is contrary to what’s happening in Gujarat. I feel like more than a billion people are being taken for a ride. What do you think?

The Great Indian Football Dream

The Asian Cup is over. At least for me. This was the first time India was participating since 1984, and notwithstanding the allegations that the country gained a “backdoor entry” to the competition, I am reasonably proud of the national team’s performances in its 3 matches at the tournament. You might ask me at this point, does India even have a football team? And yes we do have one. Most Indians would be hard pressed to name even half of it, but it still does exist. Granted, its international performance leaves much to be desired. But it all seems like it might change in the future.

A lot has been said about how sporting success rejuvenates a nation. Despite this, it is hard to concretely determine why this is so. Why was it that when I was young(er) I circled the kitchen with my fingers in my ears when a particularly crucial last over was being bowled at an India game? Why was it that I muttered to kill Henry Olonga, the poor man, when he destroyed India’s tail-end to deny us an almost assured victory? This isn’t limited to just cricket. The crowds roar when the Indian women’s 4x400m relay team took the lead from Nigeria and finished first to give India its first athletics gold medal since the flying Sikh Milka Singh in 1958 says it all. It was a roar of pride and, to a certain extent it must be said, disbelief.

So finally, India as a country is rising up the sports ladder. About time I’d say. But sadly, the Great Indian Football Dream (as I term it) looks like it will still be a dream for years to come. Yes of course we’ve been winning some silverware. But winning the AFC Challenge Cup against the footballing powerhouses of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan etc. hardly stands up does it? And that too when you do it at home. Who knows anything about Indian football anyway? Not Indians for sure. The Indian football league has begun its season, with one team quitting, no official sponsor, and, unfortunately, no TV coverage. But even if there was any TV coverage, I fail to see even my friends changing the channel from the latest highlights of Barcelona’s exploits in the Champions League to see a live I-League game featuring the local club. This is a sad fact.

There is a silver lining however. During the Asian Cup, throngs of Indian expat supporters showed up to India’s games against the REAL regional powerhouses like Australia and South Korea. And boy did they shout themselves hoarse. This was in contrast to other games where paltry attendance and lack of atmosphere seemed to be the norm. India have been knocked out of the Asian Cup. This is tout a fait understandable, but what really impressed me, and most of the Indian football fans on the internet, was the fighting spirit and the determination they showed. Of course the team had a lot of luck, but I say they deserved it. They have made a name for themselves out in the footballing world, especially Subrata Paul, the man who was previously better known for his collision with Dempo’s foreign player Cristiano Junior in 2004 that led to the Brazilian’s death. The “Seoul” Newspaper published an article with the headline “Indian Team GK: 16 times super save! Who is this guy?” Out of the 20 shots on target that the South Korean team registered, Paul beat away 16.

Subrata Paul in action

Not only him, but Sunil Chhetri and Gouramangi Singh, India’s first goal scorers at the Asian Cup since 1964 where we finished third (our best finish at the Asian Cup,) made sure we at least kept our heads high. We outscored countries such as North Korea, UAE, and even Saudi Arabia.

One player that does deserve a mention, and even more than just that, is Manipuri left-midfielder Renedy Singh. He was the best Indian mid-fielder and should be credited for BOTH of India’s goals against Bahrain.

In the video you see the Frank Lampard moment of the Asian cup when Singh unleashed a ferocious drive from the left that crossed the line after hitting the cross-bar. The linesman did not call it a goal but Chhetri headed it in for India’s second goal at the tournament.

It was great to see the Indian team put up such a fight against two World Cup qualified teams (Australia and South Korea) and one that barely missed out on the 2010 world cup (Bahrain.)

Of course, this is only one appearance and there’s a lot to be improved. But if the team makes to Australia in 2015, I’m going to be there cheering them on. What are the chances of us making it there? Not a lot. The best chance remains for us to win the AFC Challenge Cup which would ensure a direct entry to the tournament. But I’d like to see India get through the REAL qualifiers and shut the critics up. And there we might face significant hurdles. The problem lies in the lack of infrastructure at home. I just painted a very bleak picture of the Indian football league above. And make no mistake about it, it’s probably a gentler criticism than most. The fact remains that there is no avenue for talent like the above mentioned players mentioned to make it in the sport they love most. There is ONE real football academy in India, run by the Tatas in Jamshedpur, and that’s not going to help us churn out players for the whole country. Even if they do come up, opportunities for training, the right nutrition, and international exposure are hard to find and they fade into oblivion.

It seems as if opportunities are coming and knocking on India’s door again. Blackburn Rovers has been taken over by an Indian, who, in his own words, “wants to get the first Indian player to play in the EPL.” Accordingly, a few Indian kids are to be selected and trained at Blackburn’s academy for 2 years. IMG Reliance has signed a $150 million deal with the All India Football Federation to support and promote Indian football at all levels. In addition, IMG has also provided scholarships to a few students to train at their academy in Florida.

However, as you have probably noticed by now, Indian clubs are the last to take such initiatives. I fail to understand why since a successful club should have an extensive youth network in place and look for long-term sustainability. Often, I find myself dreaming and creating my own club. The number one question is, why is there no youth recruitment. The typical answer is that Indian parents don’t agree that this sport is a viable career option for their children. Well, that might be true for middle-class parents. But if you look at Brazil’s example, clubs recruit massively from the underprivileged sections of the society where the kids are passionate about the sport and families see this as a way to get out of poverty. They train hard during their adolescent years, get the correct physical, nutritional and mental guidance, and generally they become successful either in brazil or get signed by clubs in Europe. I am just wondering if this could work in India. We have a population of over a billion, there must be some way we can produce footballing greats as well. Could an academy become sustainable if it ran a programme by which talented, physically fit, underprivileged youngsters could gain scholarships to a professionally run academy along with children that can afford to pay for such training, be sustainable? This would ensure a decent youth intake where talented but underprivileged kids could get a chance too. This academy could be associated with a club where the children can get first team exposure. Later the club/academy can make money through the sales of certain players and can benefit from the players it decides to retain in the first team too. The Academy should have committed youth coaches, physios and especially nutritionists so that the players develop the best physically. This is so because they need the physicality to be the best in the Indian league and survive in leagues outside India too. Scouting is also very important as these children must be found and their families persuaded. For this the club can arrange school competitions to get a basic overview of where the talent lies and get them early. Scouts must also be sent in rural areas to pick the most physically fit children who can later learn the finer nuances of the game. At the same time the club should do its best to promote itself and make itself visible. A successful business model can only be achieved if it connects well to its surroundings. This would, for one, increase its visibility so more children will come forward for trials and second attract more supporters to games.

Of course, I realise this might be building sand-castles and it must be harder than it sounds. But I never said this was an actual plan. This is an idea to prod this dream closer to reality.

And as you all must know already, ideas are bulletproof.

An early start to a new years resolution

Ca y’est. I’ve decided on a new years resolution: post at LEAST once a month on my poor neglected blog. While this post is merely a recycled version of an essay I had to recently write, I have a few more ideas in the pipeline, and expect more articles in the future

This post is an adaptation of my essay for International Relations Theories class; an IR analysis into a very interesting and persistent empirical puzzle: the India-Pakistan rivalry. Again, as I mention in the conclusion, it does not consider all possible angles and there is scope for revision and discussion, but it provides a decent basic outlook on one of the most constant, long-drawn and volatile rivalry in the world.

 

Why is there an enduring rivalry between India and Pakistan?

Conflict in the Indian subcontinent has become a constant since the various constituent states of the region gained independence. The main source of conflict remains the India-Pakistan rivalry, a rivalry that has lasted for more than 6 decades and does not show any signs of abatement. In this time period, India and Pakistan have fought numerous wars, experienced several stand-offs over various issues, and have recently even introduced a nuclear dimension to their conflict.

Since independence, India and Pakistan have maintained their rivalry and it has developed very particular characteristics. There are numerous issues at stake; certainly Kashmir is a very important issue, but it is a part of the larger picture. The persistence of this conflict, however, is a very interesting feature and a puzzle owing to the evident asymmetry between the two actors in this conflict.

This essay will first analyse the India-Pakistan rivalry through a neo-realist lens and examine aspects such as possible security dilemmas and balancing while incorporating the “truncated” asymmetry in India-Pakistan relations. It will then analyse whether neo-realist theory can explain the enduring aspect of India Pakistan rivalries and attempt to provide alternate explanations using the punctuated equilibrium and evolutionary model. Finally, it will provide a constructivist impetus to the discussion hereby evaluating the roles of identities and construction of the same in the India-Pakistan rivalry.

Neo-realist overview

The Neo-realist theory is very structural in its approach (Rajagopalan, 1998.) It is important to mention here that it aims to explain state behaviour not through normative variables but through a systemic analysis that outlines certain structural assumptions. Essentially, there is an overarching assumption of anarchy in the international order. With that assumption made, states in such an anarchic order will strive to establish their own security. In turn this security is always threatened by other states (who are simultaneously intent on establishing their own security) (Waltz, 1988: 619.) Thus, the anarchic international system provides every state with a set of constraints that limits their choices (Rajagopalan, 1998.) Balancing is an inherent conclusion because states will always attempt to maximise their power to ensure their security thus forcing other states to respond in kind to balance any relative change in power.

Now we minimise our focus to South Asia, and, assuming a state of anarchy, we try to explain state behaviour, and more specifically the India-Pakistan rivalry, through this approach.

To proceed further, we need a basic idea of the power structure in South Asia. As mentioned in our introduction, there is an evident asymmetry between the two main actors in the region. India, by any definition, is obviously superior to Pakistan in material terms (Rajagopalan, 1998.) India’s population, economy, and military are all significantly larger than Pakistan’s and thus there is an obvious need for Pakistan to attempt and balance this asymmetry out.

There can, however, be two ways for a country to respond to asymmetry: either attempt to balance the power structure, or bandwagon with the power state so as to not become a victim and be able to “share in the spoils.” However, Pakistan has opted to actively balance India, presumably to preserve its autonomy.

Balancing can be done in two ways: internal balancing, which would entail the building up of domestic military capabilities to balance those of rival states, and external balancing, which would imply the creation of alliances with to counter the power of the rival (Rajagopalan, 1998.) Pakistan shows evidence of both such measures in its quest to balance India.

Pakistan’s spending on defence has always remained historically high for an economy of its magnitude (Rajagopalan, 1998,) averaging above 6% of GNP during the 90’s. Pakistan’s defence spending has also spiked after wars against India (so has India’s but not relatively as much as Pakistan’s) especially after the 1971 war, which resulted in its dismemberment (Diehls et al., 2005: 43.) Pakistan has also actively followed a nuclear program and now possesses nuclear weapons, thus gaining parity with India. While Pakistan has thus achieved some relative gains against India, at the expense of its own economy, it still lags behind in absolute terms and the asymmetry still remains. It has attempted to counter this by being more proactive in its diplomacy. It has forged strong alliances with two major powers: the USA and China. From the time of independence till even 2010, Pakistan has received significant amounts of military aid as well as diplomatic support from the US. After the 1962 China war, Pakistan has also improved its relations with China; China was instrumental in Pakistan’s nuclear programme. China has even recently announced its intent to build nuclear reactors in Pakistan as well as a port in Gwadar and a highway through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Thus, Pakistan has actively forged alliances with nearby or faraway powers to gain more relative power against its foe.

Thus, this asymmetry, as T.V. Paul (2005) argues, has become a “truncated asymmetry.” That is to say, in many areas, the weaker state, i.e. Pakistan, actually enjoys a comparative advantage over the stronger state, India. For example, because of US support, India cannot sustain a long term offensive against Pakistan (which is the safest way of using its power advantage.) Moreover, Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons has also given it more relative power in terms of India and has guaranteed a skewed asymmetry.

Therefore, while Pakistan faces a foe that is much larger than it is in terms of tangible power (in almost all senses of that word,) it is determined to reduce this asymmetry by playing on the weakness of India, and thus balancing the power structure in South Asia. This is in contrast to other states in the region that have resorted to “bandwagon” with the stronger state.

However, this would result in a perpetual security dilemma, because all Pakistani efforts to reduce the imbalance only provoke Indian reactions to make up for the relative loss of power. This has been demonstrated by the USSR-India friendship, as well as continuous Indian increase in defence spending as well. Thus, it is possible to state that a rivalry would emerge from a repetition of interaction within the same power structure that produce the same outcome, hereby rendering the rivalry persistent.

Some problems with the Neo-realist approach

The conclusion above almost automatically points out to some of the most glaring flaws in a neo-realist analysis of the India-Pakistan rivalry. It leads T.V. Paul (2007: 251) to conclude that IR paradigms such as realism, balance of power and power transition theories only partially explain the issue at hand. Such a “systemic level” examination would lead us to the conclusion that enduring rivalries are epiphenomenal (Diehls et al., 2005: 29.) This is evidently not the case with the India-Pakistan rivalry. Neo-realism fails to explain the origin of rivalries (Ayoob, 2002,) and thus it cannot explain, completely and comprehensively, why these rivalries endure. Moreover, as posited in the previous section, while there is a truncated asymmetry between India and Pakistan, India still retains an edge in most power-based terms. Realist theory would generally predict enduring rivalries between states that are more or less equivalent in terms of capability, otherwise the stronger state would win initial confrontations and thus impose its will on the weaker one (Diehl et al., 2005: 29.)

A better approach would be, perhaps, as Diehl et al. (2005) have suggested, the punctuation equilibrium and evolutionary model.

The punctuation equilibrium model does not seek to look at conflict outside of its historical context (Diehl et al., 2005: 30.) It has roughly three phases; in the first phase a rivalry is born due to a “political shock” that is endogenous to one or both countries (this is a necessary but not a sufficient condition,) in the second phase either the dispute is solved quickly or it “locks in” and thus becomes enduring and it can only be terminated with another large magnitude “political shock” (Idem.) Evolutionary notions posit that the results and the severity of the conflicts determine whether rivalries will be enduring or not.

In India and Pakistan’s case, their shared independence is obviously the political shock. However, that does not necessarily involve an enduring rivalry. It was more the botched British bifurcation and the presence of a territorial dispute in the face of Kashmir that helped in the development of a rivalry (Ibid, 34.) What is important here is that this territory (Kashmir) has intangible value for both countries in the form of identity and ideology. Because of this importance, Pakistan has launched irredentist claims, which has served to lock the dispute.

This rivalry has been maintained because of the “truncated asymmetry” that we mentioned in the previous section. The geographical features of Kashmir suit Pakistan and an asymmetric strategy. An Indian general has even mentioned that “30:1 superiority” is needed in the region to “secure some areas in the Kashmir front-line” (Paul, 2005.) Thus, because most conflicts between the two nations have taken place in the Kashmir theatre, where there is more or less parity between the two states, and thus has mostly resulted in stalemates (35/43 conflicts). These stalemates dissatisfy the revisionist Pakistani state and thus there is always incentive for it to continue its irredentist policies in the future even due to its repeated failure (Diehl et al., 2005: 37-39.)

Thus, we can see how a broad neo-realist approach would miss the specificities of this rivalry while propagating “systemic” explanations. Of course, it presents a partial view of the state-of-affairs in South Asia, especially the security dilemma, but it fails to show why this rivalry is enduring.

Constructivist turn

The previous section shows how the origin of the conflict is very important. We have traced this origin to independence and the botched division of the country – specially the Kashmir territorial dispute. It is hard to imagine why this dispute is so central to both India and Pakistan. In order to answer that particular question we have posited above that Kashmir holds intangible symbolic value for both India and Pakistan. This hereby brings us into constructivist territory.

India and Pakistan, as communities or nations, did not exist before 1947. They are, in a sense, “imagined communities,” the phrase that Benedict Anderson coined in 1983. Pakistan especially was “imagined” or constructed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a Muslim state but not an Islamic state. He established it as a state where all Muslims of South Asia could unite as a separate cultural community. However, general Zia-ul-Haq in the 80s decided to modify that and use Islam as a religion as Pakistan’s identity (Varshney, 2009.) In any case, Pakistan has based its collective identity on Islam. It becomes clear why Kashmir would be such an important issue to Pakistan: it represents the “stolen” territory that rightfully belongs to Pakistan (Kronstadt, 2009: 299.) Thus, the irredentist claims on the Pakistani side.

On the other hand, India’s collective identity is seen to be that of, at times, secular nationalism and mild Hindutva. This explains both Indian efforts to maintain the status quo and Kashmiri nationalism. First, India would want to retain control over Kashmir because it is the only Muslim dominated state in the union. It thus reinforces its “secular” identity and proves the success of the Indian model (Idem.) Secondly, the more “Hindu” based identity that has developed as a response to the “secular” one drives more distrust from both Pakistan and Kashmiris that further compounds the rivalry (Idem.)

Thus, the construction conflict and the rivalry between the two states can be posited as an extension of the irreconcilability of the constructed national identities.

Conclusion

We have attempted to provide various insights into the enduring nature of the India-Pakistan rivalry using a host of international relations theories. This issue is a complex one and we have seen that it has been very difficult to pin it down using theoretical means. Neo-realist theory and balancing of powers, while excellent at explaining superpower/great power behaviour, fails to incorporate “third world realities” (Ayoob, 2008: 110.) We have seen that in the case of the India-Pakistan rivalry over the course of this essay. They do, however, give us a partial understanding on how a security dilemma is created in the region.

Punctuated Equilibrium and evolutionary model give us better insight as to why this rivalry is persistent. Moreover, constructivism provides us with a clearer picture about state actions, especially in this case, because India and Pakistan BOTH have particularly constructed identities that contradict each other on various issues that are at the heart of the rivalry.

However, due to the limits on this essay, we have not been able to consider a host of important variables and concerns, such as institutions and nuclearisation. This shows that a multi-theoretic base is necessary to tackle this question and limiting ourselves to just a few only provides us with partial and incomplete answers.

Bibliography

Ayoob, M., 2002. Inequality and Theorizing in International Relations: The Case for Subaltern Realism. International Studies Review, 4(3), pp. 27-48.

Diehl, P., Goertz, G. & Saeedi, D., 2005. Theoretical Specifications in Enduring Rivalries: Applications to the India Pakistan case. In: T.V. Paul (ed.) 2005. The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch 2.

Kronstadt, A., 2009. What Drives Subcontinental Insecurity?: A Multi-theoretic Examination of the India-Pakistan Conflict Dyad. Ph.D. University of Southern California.

Paul, T.V., 2005. Causes of the India Pakistan Enduring Rivalry. In: T.V. Paul (ed.) 2005. The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch 1.

Paul, T.V. & Hogg, W., 2005. South Asia’s Embedded Conflict: Understanding the India-Pakistan Rivalry. In: T.V. Paul (ed.) 2005. The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch 11.

Rajagopalan, R., 1998. Neorealist Theory and the India-Pakistan Conflict – II. Strategic Analysis, 22(10).

Varshney, A., 2009. The Idea of Pakistan. In: I. Pande (ed.) 2009. The Great Divide: India and Pakistan. Noida: HarperCollins.

Waltz, K., 1988. The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory. Journal of Interdependency History, 18(4), pp. 615-628.

Because some things shouldn’t be forgotten

A week ago was the 8 year anniversary of the single most scariest thing I have lived through. It’s funny but I never realised how little people back home talk about it. It’s almost as if it never happened. Or didn’t happen the way I remember it at least. I’d been meaning to do this on the anniversary (28 February) but I wasn’t on my computer and I decided to postpone it for a week. And here I am now, doing something which still is a little difficult.

The fact remains, those three days were a turning point of my life and how much ever pride I take in my nation today, how much Ahmedabad remains home to me, the place where I grew up, I will never forget what happened. I will never forget the harsh words I heard, the disturbing (and yet I was lucky) images I saw, the giddy thoughts in my head. I remember a year ago I made a note on Facebook where I included a point about how there was a moment in my life when I thought I would die. It was then. Imagine looking down a stairwell convinced that a mob would come rushing up those very stairs with the sole intention of killing you. It’s not very pretty. And still, I was lucky.

This is not even a political tirade, although I am very much capable of that. It’s just that looking through memoirs of victims, and faced with the silence of my fellow countrymen, a few acquaintances and friends included, just provoked me enough to write a simple post for all the victims, regardless of their religion. Modern India is as cruel as it is beautiful sometimes. And how much ever people want to overlook this “incident,” debate about even the term to describe the violence, bury and forget it, it still strikes vivid in my mind.

For all the people affected by this ghastly riot, I strike a prayer with you and I remember your grievances. Because some things should not be forgotten.

In case anyone is interested, this is one of the few buried videos on youtube (with flame wars in progress in some cases.) Some images are harsh so watch at your own risk.

Motley thoughts

It feels good to see that this blog has at least a few views per day; it gives me confidence about my writing. I haven’t written on a consistent basis since the 11th grade, however, now I find myself thinking about my next blog post almost all the time. I apologise to my “devoted” (:D) readers for not being able to write one earlier, but lets say that there were some personal issues that bothered me and I was thus rendered unable to sit down with a clear mind and work on a post that my blog deserves haha. This post is a rather motley collection of thoughts that have been going through my mind recently. With Maude gone I find more time to drift like so. I am going to be unapologetic about it and post it all anyway

To begin with, the second year at Sciences Po is well underway and it looks a tad bit more difficult from the first year. Compounding it is my schedule which begins at 8 almost every day of the week. It is a pity that although I like the majority of my courses and the teachers, I hardly get time to do reading outside class. I find it a little limiting to to my development as a student. It still feels slightly lonely, I do have my bad days, but overall Maude has been awesome from the other side of the world, and life seems good. I am broke already though, and it seems to be a tight next few weeks.

Striking off on a tangent, I was reading through a couple of essays from Shashi Tharoor’s The Elephant, Tiger and the Cellphone yesterday night, and I realised how much India has changed, and not just for me or a fraction of the colossal population of the country, but for the average man as well. I realise how our colourful and chaotic country has been building up its battered esteem. As Shashi Tharoor puts it,  today we have an India that states matter of factly to the uncertain future “Come on; I am not afraid of you.” When my mother can build up her whole life from scratch from a small one roomed apartment she shared with her whole family in Bhindi Bazaar, when my grandfather can be the first one from his family to leave his village, become a world renowned authority on Islamic history and literature in India, when my cousin can reach the higher echelons of Microsoft India from an almost unnoticed beginning, it serves as living examples of the extent, magnitude and the true attitude of this transformation of a whole country. It shows how a country is daring to dream.

I would call myself a manifestation of that dream as well. I think the future of my country will be written by individuals like my mother, grandfather, cousin or I who dare to dream and imagine of things that they think they deserve, and by how they strive against any odds to achieve those dreams. It is this thought that always motivates me in the end. I think I am a culmination of too many dreams. And as Langston Hughes said, a deferred dream explodes in the end. It is time for me to begin realising all of mine.