Patchwork States
The Historical Roots of Subnational Conflict and Competition in South Asia

Patchwork States argues that the subnational politics of conflict and competition in South Asian countries have roots in the history of uneven state formation under colonial rule. Colonial India contained a complex landscape of different governance arrangements and state-society relations. After independence, postcolonial governments revised colonial governance institutions, but only with partial success. The book argues that contemporary India and Pakistan can be usefully understood as patchwork states, with enduring differences in state capacity and state-society relations within their national territories. The complex nature of territorial governance in these countries shapes patterns of political violence, including riots and rebellions, as well as variations in electoral competition and development across the political geography of the Indian subcontinent. By bridging past and present, this book can transform our understanding of both the legacies of colonial rule and the historical roots of violent politics, in South Asia and beyond.

Reviews & endorsements

‘This remarkable book sets the agenda for a new comparative politics focused on the territorially uneven causes and consequences of colonial state penetration and state-building within countries, and across regions such as South Asia (here, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). Naseemullah integrates three distinct stands in the study comparative politics and political economy of development - violence, electoral competition, and economic development - showing that institutional differentiation traceable to colonial rule goes far in explaining territorial variation in the outcomes that have been the focus of scholars for decades. An overarching explanatory framework makes it possible to ask a host of new questions about the contours and determinants of cross- and subnational variation in patterns of political and economic development. It is groundbreaking work that lays out a research design, hypotheses, and theoretical insights that can travel far beyond South Asia.’ Catherine Boone, Professor of Comparative Politics, London School of Economics

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Product details

• Date Published: June 2022
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781009158411
• length: 280 pages

• dimensions: 228 x 151 x 21 mm
• weight: 0.5kg
• availability: Available