PAKISTAN: The Consolidation of a Nation

by Wayne A. Wilcox ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 18, 1963

Where lay the fault"" in political philosophy which would permit the turbulence and trembling that characterized the first fifteen years of Pakistani independence? Wilcox methodically reviews the history of ""paramountcy"" and explains how and why the tangle of feudal princely states was allowed to exist in British India. He gives the backgrounds of the top architects of the rise of Muslim religious nationalism, and describes the effects of World War Two, the Cripps Mission, the Quit Indian movement, and the pressure of world events upon the eventual form of Lord Mountbatten's ""June 3 (partition and independence) Plan."" He shows why the diversities out of which the new country was created resulted in linguistic, fiscal, and administrative problems of such sizable proportions. The author is an instructor in Government at Columbia University; his work is based on field research in Pakistan. Optimistically he suggests that perhaps the yet brief history of that Asian land is ""a preface rather than a prologue."" Widespread policy changes were instituted in 1962, and on the basis of their potential Wilcox predicts a far brighter future for the nation and her people: ""The promise of democracy and of a democratic society... remains the ideal inherited from the (original) parliamentary system, and Pakistan does not lack a goal.

Pub Date: March 18, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Columbia Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1963

Categories: NONFICTION