Gambling with violence: state outsourcing of war in Pakistan and India

'Gambling with Violence' tackles a global problem that is particularly consequential for Pakistan and India: state outsourcing of violence to ordinary civilians, criminals, and ex-insurgents. Drawing on over 200 interviews, archival research, and fieldwork conducted in Islamabad, Srinagar, New Delhi, Dhaka, Diyarbakir, Ankara, Moscow, London, and Washington, D.C., this text introduces the 'balance-of-interests' thesis to deepen our understanding of state-nonstate alliances in civil war.

Gambling with Violence tackles a global problem that is particularly consequential for Pakistan and India: state outsourcing of violence to ordinary civilians, criminals, and ex-insurgents. Drawing on over 200 interviews, archival research, and fieldwork conducted in Islamabad, Srinagar, New Delhi, Dhaka, Diyarbakir, Ankara, Moscow, London, and Washington, D.C., this book introduces the "balance-of-interests" thesis to deepen our understanding of state-nonstate alliances in civil war. Incorporating international case studies of previously underexplored conduct and little-known governmental alliances with criminals and ex-rebels, this book reveals configurations of local power and actors' interests that result in distinct alliance patterns and demonstrates the framework's applicability in South Asia and beyond.

Introduction -- State-nonstate alliances in civil war: a new balance-of-interests theory -- Saving the house of Islam: Pakistan's 'volunteers' in the war of 1971 -- 'Guns plus interest': renegades and villagers in India's Kashmir war -- Tribal 'awakenings' in Pakistan and India -- All the state's proxies in Turkey and Russia -- Conclusion