APPENDIX: REVIEWS of MICHAEL BRECHER's Books
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APPENDIX: REVIEWS OF MICHAEL BRECHER’S BOOKS The Struggle for Kashmir (1953) “Of the three books under review [the others were George Fischer’s Soviet Opposition to Stalin and W. MacMahon Ball’s Nationalism and Communism in East Asia] the most interesting and suggestive is the one which from its title might appear the least important in the general feld of current international relationships. Dr. Michael Brecher’s The Struggle for Kashmir is a fne piece of research. Lucidly and attractively written, it offers a penetrating analysis of the course of the Kashmir dispute, of the reasons for the intense interest of both India and Pakistan in the disposition of the state, and of the opposed points of view of the governments of the two countries which remain as yet unreconciled. In particular, the Indian case has nowhere been so clearly and persuasively presented…. Pakistan con- tests the validity of the original accession [of the princely state, Jammu and Kashmir, to India in October 1947] on the ground of Indian conspiracy and pressure on the Maharaja [of Jammu and Kashmir], but Dr. Brecher’s careful evaluation of the evidence suggests that this thesis is unfounded…. The heart of the Kashmir dispute lies in the fact that it strikes at the foundation of the very existence of Pakistan and India alike…. If it be admitted that predominantly Muslim Kashmir may be included in India, then the reason for Pakistan’s existence disappears. For India, on the other hand, to admit this communal argument would be to forswear the inter-communal, secular structure of the Indian state: it would give © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 343 M. Brecher, A Century of Crisis and Confict in the International System, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57156-0 344 APPENDIX: REVIEWS OF MICHAEL BRECHER’S BOOKS strength to the Hindu extremists…and would therefore endanger the foundation of the Indian state as it is at present constructed and would gravely threaten the lives of the 40 million Muslims who at present [1954] live within India’s frontiers.” [In 2011, there were approximately 172 million Indian Muslims, 14% of India’s population]. “It is the great merit of Dr. Brecher’s study that he has not merely given us a careful and detailed analysis of the niceties of the dispute, but he has been able to stand back from its complexities and place it in its broad international and philosophical setting. In so doing he has achieved his object of contributing to an understanding of this ‘grave problem in contemporary Asian and Commonwealth affairs’ (p. x), but he has in addition thrown much light on the problems and diffcul- ties of the sub-continent as a whole and therefore on the part it plays on the world stage. This book should be widely read.” (P.A. Reynolds, University College of Wales, The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 20, 3, August 1954, 386–388) “This book is by a young Canadian student of international affairs…now lecturing at McGill University…. The combination of diverse experience, enthusiasm and application has produced a valuable work, which all con- cerned with the Kashmir problem should have for reference. The author is thorough in his collection of material and lucid in his arrangement; he displays a notable desire to be fair and conveys the impression that nothing has been deliberately suppressed or distorted on either side…. The main body of the book is concerned with the history of the dis- pute before the United Nations and the various attempts to reach a solu- tion…. This part is objectively written and carefully documented. There is a most interesting chapter on Kashmir in transition…which I think one of the best in the book. The book explains clearly the issues involved, the main arguments and principal moves on either side…. Dr. Brecher rightly minimizes Mr. Nehru’s personal feelings as a Kashmiri by race…. Kashmir is to Mr. Nehru a symbol of the secular political idea even more than of Indian nationalism or prestige; that is why he fghts so hard for it….” (Percival Spear, Selwyn College, Cambridge University, Pacifc Affairs, 27, 4, December 1954, 384–385) “Mr. Michael Brecher has performed a very useful service in collecting the available data and giving us a clear and detailed account of the Kashmir problem. He has also furnished us with important background informa- tion…The author has been scrupulously fair…. the care and consideration APPENDIX: REVIEWS OF MICHAEL BRECHER’S BOOKS 345 with which he records the points of view of both sides…. He…supports arguments with copious references to other sources…. We are grateful to the author for a careful account of the laborious course of international negotiation. In particular, UNCIP’s [the U.N. Commission on India and Pakistan’s] failure to get to grips with the problem is clearly revealed…. Mr. Brecher convincingly exposes this weakness in the Commission’s activities.” (Lord Birdwood [author of a book on Kashmir in 1956], International Affairs, 30, 2, April 1954, 257) “…this excellent and scholarly study of the Kashmir dispute…. The reader closes it with the conviction that he has been given an unpreju- diced account of relevant historical facts and of the arguments by which both India and Pakistan have sought to justify their actions and substanti- ate their conficting claims. Mr. Brecher has sifted the mass of government and United Nations documents and the books and periodical literature on the subject and has interviewed politicians and offcials in India, Pakistan and Kashmir…. His book admirably meets the needs, down to April 1953, of those who wish to become acquainted with the story of the con- fict.” (J.R. Aitchison, The Dalhousie Review, 34, 1, Spring 1954) “We are indebted to a young Canadian scholar for this useful guide through the many ramifcations of the Kashmir question—the central problem in dispute between India and Pakistan and one of the great uncomprehended controversies in contemporary international rela- tions…. Dr. Brecher has written an intelligent and objective book, based on a careful study of the pertinent documents and on frst-hand observa- tions in Kashmir, and in India and Pakistan….” (Norman D. Palmer, University of Pennsylvania, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 294, July 1954, 166–167) “An exhaustive review of the documentation, especially by the U.N., on this subject, plus eight months of investigation in Kashmir, Pakistan, and India, have produced a handy guide to developments within and the protracted negotiations over this contested region.” (The American Political Science Review, XLVIII, 2, June 1954) “Brecher concludes that this [the failure to ‘bring about a solution of the confict’] was due partly to inept handling by the international organi- zation; but he feels that the deeper causes of the confict make a solution possible only through an effort at direct political settlement between the contestants. The events subsequent to the writing of this book seem to bear out this conclusion…. This is a scholarly investigation of a touchy 346 APPENDIX: REVIEWS OF MICHAEL BRECHER’S BOOKS subject whose complex and emotional nature the author has succeeded in reducing to an understandable and reasonably clear study.” (Werner Levi, University of Minnesota, Middle East Affairs, February 1955, 58–59) “Among the studies of the Kashmir problem, four books stand out as the major works on the subject—The Struggle for Kashmir by Michael Brecher [1953], Danger in Kashmir by Joseph Korbel [1954], Two Nations and Kashmir by Lord Birdwood [1956], and The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir by Prem Nath Bazaz [1954]. Brecher’s is a doctoral dissertation and hence largely based on an objective analysis of the various documents on the subject…. The special merit of the book lies in two of its chapters—one on the internal developments in Kashmir and another on the cost of the Kashmir dispute…. It is in this book again that the ideological aspects of the Kashmir question are brought out in sharp relief…. With its objectivity and its great accuracy in the presenta- tion of facts, Brecher’s work on Kashmir deserves the closest study by anyone who attempts to understand the problem in all its aspects.” (Sisir Gupta, Indian Council of World Affairs, “The Kashmir Question 1947- 60,” International Studies, New Delhi, III, 2, October 1961, 187) “In this well-documented, defnitive study…the author has delved deep into the source material to give an objective and penetrating analy- sis of ‘the greatest and the gravest single issue in international affairs’.” (Narendra Kumar, Seminar, No. 58, New Delhi, June 1964, 60–61) Nehru: a Political Biography (1959) “Any new book has to be very good indeed to justify its claim upon the attention of serious students…. It is therefore high praise of Mr. Brecher’s book to state, quite plainly, that it makes a really notable con- tribution to the understanding both of Nehru himself and of the work which he has done for his country…. He writes with an ease which cloaks a clear perception of essentials…. The merits of the book are of a most uncommon order.” (The Times, London, 2 July 1959) “To draw the portrait of such a man is a tantalizingly diffcult task. Mr. Nehru once attempted it himself, and only partially succeeded…. Mr. Brecher’s portrait of a weaker, more human, more attractive Nehru is more complete and detailed than the self-portrait; and it is perhaps as nearly fnal as anything that can be done in a great man’s lifetime.” (The Times Literary Supplement, London, 3 July 1959) APPENDIX: REVIEWS OF MICHAEL BRECHER’S BOOKS 347 “In his careful and subtle indication of how British policy and a mis- taken British state of mind turned Nehru into an opponent, not always a reasonable one, of the country he could still admire, in his astute applica- tion of personal and general matter, Dr.