Deadly Impasse: Indo-Pakistani Relations at the Dawn of a New Century

by Sumit Ganguly

What ails the Indo-Pakistani relationship? Rivalry between the two states has persisted since the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947, and despite negotiations, four wars and multiple crises, India and Pakistan remain locked in a long-standing dispute. Evaluating relations from 1999 through to 2009, Sumit Ganguly seeks to understand this troubled relationship and why efforts at peace-making and conflict resolution, which have included unilateral Indian concessions, have not been more fruitful. Charting key sources of tension throughout the decade, including the origins and outcomes of the Kargil War in 1999, developments in the Indian-controlled portion of the state of Kashmir, the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001 and the onset of the 2001–2 crisis, Deadly Impasse sets out to discover whether the roots of this hostile relationship stem from security dilemmas or reflect the dynamics between a status quo power and a predatory state.

184 pages, Paperback

Published March 29, 2016

Reviews

[Nivan Bagchi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a fascinating feat for an author to have a made such extraordinarily boring book, despite just cloaking around 130 pages. Its core argument is that Pakistan's adversity with India doesn't fuel from a Security Dilemma. The idea is not novel in anyway.

It further looks into the decade following the accession of Vajpayee in the 90s till Singh's years in 2008. What follows is a drab narrative about press meets and statements. It never seeks to go any deeper than newspaper columns. It's just a purely lazy effort.

[Ronit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was short and easy to read. It highly favors India's perspective of the conflict between India and Pakistan. It did keep to a lot of facts though and makes a convincing argument that Pakistan's interest in Kashmir is not really a security dilemma but rather an irredentist claim that they are unlikely to give up on.

[Raunak Mainali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a good read if you want an impartial stance as it is very favourable of India. However, still a great short book.