Breakup of India and Palestine

Victor Kattan is an Assistant Professor at the School of Law, University of NottinghamAmit Ranjan is a Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore

'This fascinating essay collection offers systematic analysis of partition in India and Palestine as processes connected through supranational politics, international law, and transnational networks. Thought provoking, often harrowing and always original, the essays collected here make essential reading for anyone interested in where partitions fit within global decolonisation.' Martin Thomas, University of Exeter'An expert team of authors assembled by Victor Kattan and Amit Rajan have produced an original book on the momentous years of 1947 and 1948 in the Indian subcontinent and Palestine. By showing how partition failed to resolve the nationality ‘problems’ it was designed to solve, the multi-scalar analyses in The breakup of India and Palestine demonstrate how the seeds were sown for the illiberal majoritarian democracies there today. A brilliant achievement.' A. Dirk Moses, Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of International Relations at the Colin Powell School for Civic and International Leadership at the City College of New York, CUNY'This book is expertly planned, presented and written. Each chapter links into the next, enabling a seamless comparative account of colonial and postcolonial governance agendas through the prism of partition politics. The detailed investigation into the latter gives a balanced account and adds an analytical rigour to the academic literature on the topic, which is skewed towards colonial politics and limits the agency of the postcolonial societies.'International Affairs 100: 2, 2024

• Foreword by Lucy ChesterAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Connecting the partitions of India and Palestine: institutions, policies, laws and people – Victor Kattan and Amit RanjanPart I The partition of British India1 The Mountbatten Viceroyalty reconsidered: personality, prestige and strategic vision in the partition of India – Ian Talbot2 The paradigmatic partition? The Pakistan demand revisited – Ayesha JalalPart II The partition of Palestine3 Partition and the question of international governance: the 1947 United Nations Special Committee on Palestine – Laura Robson4 Fighting for Palestine as a holy duty? The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the partition of Palestine in 1947 – Mohamed-Ali AdraouiPart III The partitions of India and Palestine compared5 The communal question and partition in British India and mandate Palestine – Amrita Shodhan6 India’s dilemmas of pragmatism v. principles: Nehru’s preference for a partitioned India but a federal Palestine – P. R. KumaraswamyPart IV The consequences of partition for South Asia, the Middle East and beyond7 The partitions of India and Palestine and the dawn of majority rule in Africa and Asia – Victor Kattan8 ‘Unfinished’ partition: territorial disputes, unequal citizens and the rise of majoritarian nationalism in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – Amit Ranjan9 Civil war, total war or a war of partition? Reassessing the 1948 war in Palestine from a global perspective – Arie M. Dubnov10 Partitioned identities? Regional, caste and national identity in Pakistan – Iqbal Singh SeveaAfterword: Partition as imperial inheritance – Penny Sinanoglou