National Identity and War: The case of India and Pakistan

Abstract

The paper attempts to study the interrelation of war and national identity. It will establish a theoretical framework for nations, nationalism, national identity and the impact of national identity on war and vice versa. Wars start as a clash of national identities, and the longer it perpetuates it gets absorbed into the identity discourse. Hence, as wars stretch longer, the chances of arbitration grow narrower as nations start identifying the war with their nationhood. The paper further analyses the Indo-Pak conflict within the frame work of clash of national identities. It focuses on demarcating India and Pakistan’s national identity and studies the conflict. It concludes that to arbitrate a conflict between nations a historical analysis of the nations in question and a grass roots ethnographic research of war narratives is pertinent.