India, Pakistan, and the Sharike-Bazi: An Alternate Understanding of the Cousin Rivalry

In a timely text designed to provide a new lens into understanding the seemingly intractable conflict between India and Pakistan, Dr. Jawad Kadir reframes the bilateral hostility as a culturally embedded kinship feud. There is no shortage of research on this conflict, but by taking a fresh approach, and a page from figures such as George Lakoff, the author casts a scholarly gaze on popular vernacular employed to describe the relationship (I .e., "kin-states" and "brother-enemies") and uses that to examine how the analogy of familial relations can help provide a more holistic understanding of the complex relationship between these frenemies. In so doing, he also challenges IR scholars to reframe their approach to the conflict between these nuclear neighbors.

Prof. Dr. Jeanne Sheehan Zaino

Political Science & International Studies

Iona University