Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Aparna Pande, Shefali Dhar, and Sidhanta Mehra -- Escaping India: Pakistan's search for identity / Aparna Pande -- Pakhtunistan: postcolonial imaginaries along borderlands, 1947-57 / Amna Qayuum -- Religion, ethnicity and violence in Pakistan / Muhammad Ismail Khan -- Jinnah's Pakistan: debating the nature of the state, 1947-49 / Yaqoob Bangash -- The encounter with modernity in the rural and tribal areas of Pakistan in Pakistani English fiction / Muneeza Shamsie -- Cricket, what unites us / Ahmer Naqvi -- Talk the talk: why parties walk and matter / K. Haroon Ullah -- A Weberian perspective on the nature of the state in Pakistan / Ajay Darshan Behera -- Profit, protest, and power: bazaar politics in urban Pakistan / Umair Javed -- Judiciary in crisis: judicial politics in Pakistan / Nida Paracha -- Pakistan's patchwork of high court justice / Waris Husain -- Pakistan's elite capture and the state of insecurity / Imtiaz Gul -- From chaos to building a secure, sustainable energy future / Atta Ali Malik -- Pakistan, the United States, and the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs): a continuing great game? / Ehtesham Ahmad and Azizali Mohammad -- Banking and financial sector of Pakistan / Feisal khan -- Dissimilar histories: history curricula in government and elite Pakistani schools / Madiha Afzal -- Pakistan's philanthropic education alternative / Marie Lall -- Sanctioning subordination? the politics of gender laws promulgation and reform in Pakistan / Bushra Asif -- Explaining support for sectarian terrorism in Pakistan: piety, maslak and sharia / Christine Fair -- Pakistan's descent into religious intolerance / Farahnaz Ispahani -- Competing visions of women's rights in Pakistan: state, civil society and Islamist groups / Anita Weiss -- Wither Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? / Mohammad Taqi -- Rules for the double game / Stephen Tankel -- Violent non-state actors in the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship: historical context and future prospects / Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Tara Vassefi -- The other Pakistan: understanding the military-jihadi complex / Nitin Pai, Guru Aiyar, and Pranay Kotasthane -- India as a factor in Pakistan's policy / Savita Pande -- The Afghanistan-Pakistan conundrum: history and likely future scenario with focus on Pashtun areas / Farhat Taj and Syed Rashid Ali -- Iran and Pakistan: a case of keeping a distance / Alex Vatanka -- Saudizing Pakistan: how Pakistan is changing and what this means for South Asia and the world / Pervez Hoodbhoy -- Pakistan and the United States: strategic partnership, discordant goals / Teresita Schaffer and Howard Schaffer -- Pakistan and OBOR: prospects for CPEC / Andrew J. Small and Ben Lamont.

"With a population of 190 million, Pakistan is strategically located at the crossroads of the Middle East, Central and South Asia and has the second largest Muslim population in the world. The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Pakistan provides an in-depth and comprehensive coverage of issues from identity and the creation of Pakistan in 1947 to its external relations as well as its domestic social, economic and political issues and challenges. The Handbook is divided into the following sections: Economy and Development - External Relations and Security - Foundations and Identity - Islam and Islamization - Military and Jihad - Politics and Institutions - Social Issues. The Handbook explains the reasons why Pakistan is so often at the forefront of our daily news intake, with a focus on religious and political factors. It asks questions regarding the institutions and political parties which govern Pakistan and provides an insight into the relationships which the country has forged since its creation, culminating in a discussion of the state's involvement in conflict. Covering a range of topics, this Handbook offers a wide range of perspectives on Pakistan. Bringing together a group of leading international scholars on Pakistan, the Handbook is a cutting-edge and interdisciplinary resource for those interested in studying Pakistani politics, economics, culture and society and South Asian Studies"--eCIP data view.