The Idea of Pakistan

Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars
"This is a thorough, balanced, intelligent assessment of Pakistan's crucially important struggle to find stability and successful modern identity."


Dennis Kux, Senior Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars
"THE IDEA OF PAKISTAN is an intellectual tour de force, a gripping and informative tale. . ."


Marvin G. Weinbaum, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois, and former Pakistan analyst at the U.S. Department of State
"Finally, there is a single book that provides a solid, comprehensive introduction to Pakistan. Informative and insightful. . ."


Owen Bennett Jones, Washington Post Book World, February 6, 2005
"[M]uch of this book is a rock-solid, dependable history of Pakistan."


Book Description
In recent years Pakistan has emerged as a strategic player on the world stage—both as a potential rogue state armed with nuclear weapons and as an American ally in the war against terrorism. But our understanding of this country is superficial. To probe beyond the headlines, Stephen Cohen, author of the prize-winning India: Emerging Power, offers a panoramic portrait of this complex country—from its origins as a homeland for Indian Muslims to a militarydominated state that has experienced uneven economic growth, political chaos, sectarian violence, and several nuclear crises with its much larger neighbor, India. Pakistan’s future is uncertain. Can it fulfill its promise of joining the community of nations as a moderate Islamic state, at peace with its neighbors, or could it dissolve completely into a failed state, spewing out terrorists and nuclear weapons in several directions? The Idea of Pakistan will be an essential tool for understanding this critically important country.


About the Author
Stephen Philip Cohen is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of classic books on India’s and Pakistan’s armies and the widely praised India: Emerging Power (Brookings, 2001). He was a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State and before joining Brookings was a faculty member at the University of Illinois.


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Cohen (foreign policy, Brookings Institute) offers a double biography. The first is of the idea of Pakistan, the notion that India's Muslims need a homeland for their protection and to fulfill their cultural and civilizational destiny. The second is of the state of Pakistan, which he characterizes as military-dominated, hostile to most of its neighbors, weak and uneven economically, and wracked with political chaos and sectarian violence. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


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