But the real lesson is that politics is framed in terms of group identity rather than a language of common citizenship, the best intentions in the world cannot prevent a slide into anarchy. Wolpert is right in arguing that the British state needed to manage its responsibilities better. Nor has there been a single post-colonial society that has escaped large-scale violence once the problem of representation has been framed in communal terms. You go for simple one person, one vote and the threat of majoritarianism looms you give minorities veto power or proportionally high representation and you set up a politics of majoritarian backlash.Įver since the negotiations of 1905, there was no credible solution to this conundrum. The blunt truth is that once the question of representation is framed in terms of minorities and majorities, there is no stable solution to what counts as adequate power sharing. Second, India's Partition needs to be put in a comparative perspective. Even if each of the characters in this drama had great integrity, you could have still ended up with disaster. Shameful Flight provides a vivid behind-the-scenes look at Britains decision to divest itself from the crown jewel of its empire. The snap judgements of hindsight do little to advance our understanding of how complex this process of nation building was.
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