The Partition of India

This book places the partition of India in an international perspective to show how reason of state and religious, ethnic or cultural division have been inextricably intertwined in creating the situations that have led to partition in different parts of the world. The partition of India was one of the most cataclysmic events in world history. The transfer of power to India and Pakistan in August 1947 was the first major act of decolonization by the British, with far-reaching consequences on their international power. This book shows how and why British interests and political division between Indian parties combined to bring about the partition of British India, ostensibly on a religious basis in August 1947.

Anita Inder Singh took her MA from Delhi University, her M. Phil from JNU, and her D. Phil from Oxford University. She has taught history and international relations at Delhi and Oxford Universities. She has been a Visiting Professor at the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; Ford Foundation Fellow at the Centre for Law and Governance at Jawaharlal Nehru University; Fellow in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford. Published widely in major international journals, Anita Inter Singh’s major works include The Origins of the Partition of India, 1936-1947; The limits of British Influence: South Asia and the Anglo-American Relationship 1947-56; and Democracy, Ethnic Diversity and Security in Post Communist Europe.