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The flux of the matter: loyalty, corruption and the everyday state in the post-partition government services of India and Pakistan

Gould, William, Sherman, Taylor C. and Ansari, Sarah (2013) The flux of the matter: loyalty, corruption and the everyday state in the post-partition government services of India and Pakistan. Past and Present, 219 (1). pp. 237-279. ISSN 0031-2746

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Identification Number: 10.1093/pastj/gts045

Abstract

This article explores the new levels of uncertainty and fluidity produced by independence, partition and the integration of the princely states in India and Pakistan, and it investigates the impact of these events on the ‘everyday state’ in the years immediately following 1947. The flux witnessed in this period brought forth new questions about how to define loyalty in government service, and stirred new suspicions about the presence of minorities and political opponents within the services. The mass movements of people at this time incited fresh forms of jealousy over which groups had most success at securing government jobs, and reignited older demands for access to government employment. The realization of self-rule likewise heightened sensitivities about corruption in the services and inspired a wave of efforts to end corruption. This article explores the complex ways in which postcolonial rulers responded to these anxieties and sought to alleviate the sense of uncertainty that pervaded this period. Together, these linked events reconfigured the composition of the police and bureaucracy, and transformed the ideational underpinnings of the role of the government servant in both India and Pakistan.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://past.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information: © 2013 Oxford University Press
Divisions: International History
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DS Asia
J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia
Date Deposited: 24 Feb 2011 11:32
Last Modified: 15 Feb 2024 07:24
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/32807

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