"India and Pakistan provides an historical understanding of the chequered process of nation-building in the subcontinent. In particular, Talbot examines the role of 'parochial' loyalties and the impact of contemporary processes of economic and cultural globalization on national and local allegiances. And, in introducing the increasingly important function of overseas South Asian communities in the political mobilization of the homeland, the reader is shown the complexities of South Asian society and the effects of its relationship with the state on the process of nation-building in India and Pakistan. "--Jacket.