Global Borderlands The Pashtun Borderlands: A History of Not Being Governed, 1944-1979, (Paperback)

<p>In the mid-twentieth century, the high valleys and rugged frontiers between the burgeoning states of Pakistan and Afghanistan became a crucible for a new kind of postcolonial politics, one defined as much by the absence of state authority as by its imposition. In <i>The Pashtun Borderlands</i>, historian Robert Nichols offers a definitive account of this critical period, tracing the region's journey from the final years of the British Raj to the precipice of the Soviet-Afghan War.</p><p>Moving beyond reductive tribal tropes, Nichols examines the Pashtun borderlands as a space of active political agency and "not being governed." He reveals how local communities navigated the traumas of the 1947 Partition, resisted centralized state-building efforts, and negotiated with the forces of global capital. From the failed promises of American-funded development schemes in the 1950s to the enduring nonviolent legacy of Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan), this monograph illuminates the complex social and political hierarchies that shaped the periphery.</p><p>In this vital contribution to global borderland studies, Nichols demonstrates that the regional instability of the late twentieth century was not an accident of geography but a consequence of specific historical failures in governance and the production of knowledge. This work is essential reading for scholars of South and Central Asian history, postcolonial state-building, and the enduring friction between central authorities and the fringes of empire.</p>

• Global Borderlands The Pashtun Borderlands: A History of Not Being Governed, 1944-1979, (Paperback)
• Author: Robert Nichols
• ISBN: 9781682833278
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2027-01-26
• Page Count: 320