2005/09/06 by Carolyn C. James, Özgür Özdamar
Social Sciences · #Political Conflict and Governance #Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East #South Asian Studies and Conflicts
paper · doi:10.1080/09546550590929219
openalex publication_date 2005/09/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Ethnic conflicts with a strong religious component do not have merely domestic or foreign causes and consequences. As a result, internationalization of ethnic conflict has become an important subject of inquiry both in terms of pure research and policy-oriented studies. This article presents a case study of Indian-Pakistani relations over Kashmir, used to evaluate the role of religion and the explanatory power of the approach presented here. The aim of the study is to apply a foreign policy approach that simultaneously incorporates domestic and external factors in an analysis of how and in what ways religious elements of the Kashmir question affect India's foreign policy. The approach, an application of “systemism,” contributes to current developments in the realist school of international relations through its emphasis on the need to look at both international and state levels in combination. Earlier applications of realism, as both neotraditional and structural realism clearly demonstrate, tend to remain restricted to one level or the other. In this approach, a religious dynamic can have a domestic source yet be effectively examined in terms of international ramifications.