Pakistan, with the second largest Muslim population in the world, is a crucial country in the international system. It is an ally of the United States in the global 'war on terror' but is also regarded as a major bastion of some of the most active jihadist organisations. This book highlights and explores the paradoxes that characterise contemporary Pakistan from the simultaneous democratization and Islamization of civil society to the schizophrenic US-Pakistan relationship. The central theme of the book looks at Pakistan's stability paradox. Commentators and analysts have over recent years often suggested that Pakistan was on the verge of state 'failure' or collapse resulting from a myriad of dilemmas. Yet, remarkably the Pakistani state has proven to be more resilient. This book identifies not only the factors that are contributing to Pakistan's perceived instability but also those factors that have contributed to the state's resilience. Chapters explore this central paradox through three core dimensions of Pakistan's contemporary dilemmas - the domestic, regional and international dimensions.

Pakistan, with the second largest Muslim population in the world, is a crucial country in the international system. It is an ally of the United States in the global war on terror but is also regarded as a major bastion of some of the most active jihadist organisations. This book highlights and explores the paradoxes that characterise contemporary Pakistan from the simultaneous democratization and Islamization of civil society to the schizophrenic US-Pakistan relationship.

The central theme of the book looks at Pakistan 's stability paradox. Commentators and analysts have over recent years often suggested that Pakistan was on the verge of state failure or collapse resulting from a myriad of dilemmas. Yet, remarkably the Pakistani state has proven to be more resilient. This book identifies not only the factors that are contributing to Pakistan 's perceived instability but also those factors that have contributed to the state 's resilience. Chapters explore this central paradox through three core dimensions of Pakistan 's contemporary dilemmas the domestic, regional and international dimensions.

The recent conflict between indigenous Uyghurs and Han Chinese demonstrates that Xinjiang is a major trouble spot for China, with Uyghur demands for increased autonomy, and where Beijing's policy is to more firmly integrate the province within China. This book provides an account of how China's evolving integrationist policies in Xinjiang have influenced its foreign policy in Central Asia since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, and how the policy of integration is related to China's concern for security and its pursuit of increased power and influence in Central Asia. The book traces the development of Xinjiang - from the collapse of the Qing empire in the early twentieth century to the present - and argues that there is a largely complementary relationship between China's Xinjiang, Central Asia and grand strategy-derived interests. This pattern of interests informs and shapes China's diplomacy in Central Asia and its approach to the governance of Xinjiang. Michael E. Clarke shows how China's concerns and policies, although pursued with vigour in recent decades, are of long-standing, and how domestic problems and policies in Xinjiang have for a long time been closely bound up with wider international relations issues.

The recent conflict between indigenous Uyghurs and Han Chinese demonstrates that Xinjiang is a major trouble spot for China, with Uyghur demands for increased autonomy, and where Beijing's policy is to more firmly integrate the province within China. This book provides an account of how China's evolving integrationist policies in Xinjiang have influenced its foreign policy in Central Asia since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, and how the policy of integration is related to China's concern for security and its pursuit of increased power and influence in Central Asia. The book traces the development of Xinjiang - from the collapse of the Qing empire in the early twentieth century to the present - and argues that there is a largely complementary relationship between China's Xinjiang, Central Asia and grand strategy-derived interests. This pattern of interests informs and shapes China's diplomacy in Central Asia and its approach to the governance of Xinjiang. Michael E. Clarke shows how China's concerns and policies, although pursued with vigour in recent decades, are of long-standing, and how domestic problems and policies in Xinjiang have for a long time been closely bound up with wider international relations issues.