Governing Diversity in South Asia: Explaining divergent pathways in India and Pakistan

This article applies a comparative-historical analysis (critical junctures and multiple-orders framework) to understand how and why India and Pakistan chose different strategies for the management of diversity after partition, despite their common colonial roots. After identifying several strategies for the management of diversity, the article traces the factors which account for a predominantly group-dominant approach to diversity in Pakistan and an integrationist approach in India. The analysis highlights the relevance of structural antecedent conditions during colonial times: namely the accommodationist tradition within Congress, and the absence thereof in Pakistan (Muslim League) and the group-dominant legacy of the military and civil service. The comparison also draws attention to gradual processes of change within a dominant path and nuances the relevance of elections as sufficient mechanisms for strengthening accommodation. For elections to fulfil this accommodationist potential, they need to be embedded within a liberal constitutional framework.