Chris Ogden

Diaspora Meets IR's Constructivism: An Appraisal

This article explores the concept of diaspora in relation to constructivism within IR theory. It begins by investigating the origins, definition and implications of the phenomenon of diaspora, before focusing on issues concerning identity interpenetration and multiple loyalties. Consequently, the article outlines diasporas relationship to constructivism, particularly in terms of identity formation and the self/other dyad, as well as in the analysis of culture and transnational norms, and concludes by examining the challenges and possibilities diaspora poses for constructivist IR theory. Acting as both commentary and conjecture, this article serves as a conceptual overview of diaspora, while arousing intellectual concern for what will be a dominant issue of emerging identity politics in the twenty-first century.

Tracing the Pakistan–Terrorism Nexus in Indian Security Perspectives: From 1947 to 26/11:

This article investigates how a Pakistan–terrorism nexus originated and then became solidified and embedded into Indian security perspectives. From the First Kashmir War in 1947–1948 to the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, it has been the repeated behaviour of Pakistan towards India, and the nature of their major national and sub-national conflicts, which has led to this nexus. Central to its formation has been the repeated military strategy of initial infiltrations by irregular troops followed by the use of conventional troops—an approach employed by Pakistan in 1947, 1965 and 1999. Pakistan’s concurrent support of various insurgencies and terrorism against India has compounded this association, and entrenched the contemporary Pakistan–terrorism nexus within India’s (foreign and domestic) security perspectives. Given its persistent resonance within both Pakistani strategic behaviour and Indian elite mindsets, the article finds that the Pakistan–terrorism nexus will remain as a durable and critical lynchpin within South Asian security dynamics.

A Lasting Legacy: The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and India's Politics

Abstract This article investigates how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government influenced Indias domestic politics from 1998 to 2004. It argues that the core norms constituting the BJPs ideological basis precipitated lasting changes in the nature and functioning of Indias domestic politics. The article finds that through leading the NDA government, the BJP made trends that had been normalising prior to 1998 and mainstreamed them in Indian domestic politics. This mainstreaming created a lasting legacy comprised of two specific changes – the redefinition of Indian democracy along more multi-faceted and majoritarian lines and the entrenchment of communalism and communal politics. These changes persisted after the BJP-led NDA left power in 2004, continued into subsequent Congress-led United Progressive Alliances and produced a long-term behavioural shift in Indian politics. Such normative changes threatened the tenets of secularism and inclusiveness that had been the long-standing benchmarks of domestic politics since independence in 1947.

Beyond Succession—China's Internal Security Challenges

Abstract China is undergoing a transitional period of rapid economic and social development. The way in which this period is managed will hold significant implications for the Chinese state concerning both its internal and external security. While fundamentally resting upon progressing from a developing to a developed economy, this transition highlights deep issues and tensions affecting China—ranging from rising societal inequalities to various separatism threats to mounting individualism. Regardless of internal succession struggles within the Communist Party of China (CCP), it is critical to focus upon this multitude of (mounting) social and economic issues—particularly outside of the political realm—that Chinas new leaders will have to face. Here, we highlight three themes central to this transition—a search for internal stability; Chinas multiple, interlocking internal issues; and the longevity, resilience and adaptability of the CCP—in order to assess their potential impact on Chinas domestic and, critically, external politics.

Norms, Indian Foreign Policy and the 1998–2004 National Democratic Alliance

Abstract How do national and political identities impact on a states foreign policy? In turn, how does the analysis of different normative beliefs advance our understanding of Indias foreign policy during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) period? This article utilises a norm-based approach to investigate the composite entrenched beliefs underpinning Indian foreign policy. Such an approach generates historically contingent understandings of foreign policy beliefs across different political generations and ideologies. By focusing on pre-1998 Indian government and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) foreign policy norms, and comparing them with the actions of the BJP-led NDA in government, the paper assesses whether differing ideological beliefs either constrain or influence (Indian) foreign policy. In particular, two elements of Indian foreign policy are analysed—dealing with Pakistan and going nuclear—in order to evaluate continuity and change in the formation and development of foreign policy in India. It is found that although the BJP-led NDA were frequently constrained by underlying norms present in Indian foreign policy, their own established policy beliefs often challenged these norms and influenced new foreign policy directions.

Post-Colonial, Pre-BJP: The Normative Parameters of India's Security Identity, 1947–1998

Abstract What structured the fundamental nature of Indian security for the first 50 years of the countrys independence? This article draws out four normative parameters that have been tempered and normalised during this period through Indias international interaction along with her internal political developments. Using notions of ‘security identity’, the article unpacks these normative parameters in order to investigate holistically the interaction between both domestic and foreign influences in Indias international relations. As such, the article finds a relative consistency to how security has been conceived of in India—displaying sustained threats to its territorial integrity, a continued democratic tradition, ongoing fears of communal violence plus an engrained desire for a greater global role. In turn, it has been the interface between internal and external factors that has structured, and continues to structure, Indian security.

Prem Mahadevan, The Politics of Counterterrorism in India: Strategic Intelligence and National Security in South Asia

Revolution and ends with the Cold War, both historical episodes in which Britons worked with the Crown’s enemies. Sandwiched in between is the intriguing story of those beguiled by alien nationalisms and fashions, be it in Armenia, Greece, Italy, the Arab world, or with Zionism, to give salient examples. Again, the usual suspects emerge: Aubrey Herbert, T.E. Lawrence, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Gertrude Bell, Orde Wingate, Sir Richard Burton (one of the first Christians to complete the hajj), Wilfred Blunt (related to the later Cambridge spy), Wilfred Thesiger, Philby père, Freya Stark and Roger Casement. These people were romantics, poets, writers and dreamers, guilty of foolishness not treason. Pryce-Jones’ examination relies heavily on ideas derived from Kedourie on the baleful effects of the nationalisms that emerged after 1789, but his charge is that British idealists opened up a Pandora’s Box by their naı̈ve actions that resulted in slaughter for the local peoples fighting for their nation-states (p.101): ‘he [Oliver Baldwin, 2 Earl, whose father was Stanley Baldwin] was the last in quite a line of Englishmen whose promotion of Armenian nationalism could only encourage that unfortunate people to nurture false hopes and so help to seal their fate’. This may be but is Pryce-Jones blaming this ‘useful idiot’ for the Turkish genocide against the Armenians? Pryce-Jones’ desire to sink his target means he often loses sight of the wider picture and ascribes rather too much importance to the actions of insignificant individuals, historically speaking. Pryce-Jones has written a readable, lively account of the lives of (in the main) a narrow stratum of British society. It does not get to the heart of why some people felt and acted the way that they did, a difficult question to answer. Some comparative work on, say, France or the USA might have helped the analysis. Was Britain really unique in this regard? (Indeed, the British Muslim jihadi fighters heading out to Afghanistan today bear some study in light of this book.) Pryce-Jones details one disgruntled individual after another and the list can be tiring for the reader. At its best, his book works alongside volumes such as Andrew Roberts’ Eminent Churchillians (1994), critiquing the ruling-class malaise that gripped the British as they gained and then lost their mighty empire. The reader will also be reminded of Orwell’s discussion of the Left in The Road to Wigan Pier, reluctantly published by Gollancz in 1937. At its worst, the book under review is slight and derivative, leaving the reader with the question: did the people discussed have much of an impact on history?