Borderland: Sino-Indian Border Dispute Writing Assignment
For this assignment, you will select a past or current issue or controversy affecting a borderland of your choice and write a research paper of nine to ten pages (double spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, Times New Roman) analyzing the historical roots and/or current importance of that issue.
Concepts such as “territoriality” as defined by White and other theoretical texts we have discussed in class may help you to make an argument regarding your borderlands issue.
However, the purpose of this assignment is to make your own original argument about the causes and meaning of the issue you have chosen. Is your borderland important for the formation of one or more nation's national identity? Does it contain a hybrid culture? Has it been contested between national movements? Has it been the site of separatist activity?
This topic gives you a great deal of flexibility regarding the object you will research and what you will say about that object, and you should choose a topic that genuinely interests and excites you. Your borderland can be anywhere in the world, and you can choose from many potential political, military/security, social, and cultural issues that may affect it.
You may want to consider some of the following questions, depending on their applicability to your chosen borderland. Who has tried to lay claim to your borderland, and for what purpose(s)? Has your borderland become the site of any rituals, protests, speeches, or even battles? Has it been the subject of plays or novels?
Make sure you pick a topic which has enough source material written about it that you won't be scrounging for information. Your paper should incorporate at least five sources that are not on the course syllabus. The types of sources you need may vary based on your topic. We can discuss this in office hours and in our one-on-one meetings!
Here are a few examples of borderlands. You may choose to select a location from this list, or to find and research another one that interests you.
The Rhineland
The U.S./Mexico border
Kashmir
The Mason-Dixon Line
Nagorno-Karabakh
Byzantium/the Bosporus and Dardanelles
You may choose to address an armed conflict, cultural exchange or conflict, migrations, or other issues that may interest you that affect or have affected your borderland.
Institutional Affiliation
Borderland: Sino-Indian Border Dispute
Introduction
The Sino-Indian border war of 1962 occurred after an extended territorial dispute between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and India. According to scholars, the outbreak of the war saw the two countries fighting on two fronts. It is not until November 21, 1962 when the war ended after China announced unilaterally a ceasefire after the Indian Army was defeated (Chaudhuri 841). Practitioners and other scholarly experts argue that since India was defeated, the first Prime Minister known as Jawaharlal Nehru came up with decisions that resulted to the abandonment of the country’s foreign policy of non-alignment. Nehru had appealed to the U.S. to be provided with military assistance, arguing that he had abandoned non-alignment and that India was forming a military alliance with America. This paper critically analyzes the controversies that led to the Sino-India borderland war.
In the early years when the war began in 1962, Neville Maxwell who was a journalist for The Times argued that Indian authorities had abandoned non-alignment. He added that Nehru’s policies were brought down by the border war between India and China. In the post-war period, Nehru sought for non-alignment and he said that India was a U.S. ally especially when it came to the outbreak of the war (Chaudhuri 842). The Director of military operations (DMO) who was known as D.K. Palit said that asking America to intervene was a form of joining a military alliance. Scholarly materials that were published more than 30 years after the war tend to reinforce the argument that India had decided to abandon re-alignment. However, numerous works have attempted to oppose past opinions that India had abandoned non-alignment since there were no military alliances that were formed between India and America.
In the Sino-Indian borderland war, some analysts argue that China was the aggressor who invaded India. Existing literature argues that in the non-alignment policy, India acted just like the way neo-realists could have predicted. Neo-realists argue that when a state feels threatened, it can either bandwagon or balance. This is what was predicted by B.K. Nehru who sought assistance from the U.S., a country that was considered as a more powerful nation. The aim was to balance against China which was the aggressor that led to the emergence of the borderland war (Arif 1). It is also important to note that the strategic preferences used by India were in fact inspired by cultural beliefs and this goes against the arguments of neo-realism. Evidence suggests that the cultural beliefs were inspired by what India experienced during the colonial period, and this was instrumental in shaping the non-alignment policy.
The Sino-India borderland war marked a significant period in the evolution of the Cold War across Asia. Studies have revealed that the long-standing dispute on the border between India and China broke into an open war-fare after China invaded India. Despite the fact that the Indian Prime Minister had implemented the non-alignment policy, the borderland war made India to request the assistance of the U.S. and UK, an issue that showed that India was makin...
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