Autonomy is a concept often used within International law and conflict studies as a tool to resolve tensions between state and a distinct group wanting to break free from the state. However, autonomy has no real definition within international law. Similarly, autonomy retraction lacks a clear definition and conceptualization, mostly due to it being a rare occurrence. There are five known cases of autonomy retraction. The most recent is India’s revoking of article 370 of the Indian constitution previously granting the region of Jammu and Kashmir a special status of autonomy. This thesis used this case to try and conceptualize autonomy retraction by looking at the historical context of autonomy retraction comparing how the region of Assam, Kosovo, Sudan and Tibet lost their autonomy. Historical context tells us that retraction usually comes from legislative changes and increased nationalistic policy making by central governments. Additionally, the case of Jammu and Kashmir has been examined using an altered version of an existing framework developed by the author Maria Ackrén where she looked at how regional/territorial autonomy is established. The altered version used in the thesis looks at if her framework can be used to see how and why autonomy was retracted in Jammu and Kashmir. Evidently, ideology and growing asymmetric power structures and authoritarian tendencies imposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party in India seem to be at the core to the revocation of article 370. The ultimate goal in this thesis was to conceptualize autonomy retraction and while certain components such as ideology and ethnicity plays a large part as evident in the case of India revoking article 370, further research would be beneficial to identify additional components needed to generalize the concept of autonomy retraction.

Univ., Diss.--Köln, 1999.

Contentieux délicat entre l’Inde et le Pakistan, les deux États issus de la Partition de l’Empire britannique des Indes en 1947, la question du Cachemire est un imbroglio inextricable. Scindé par une ligne de contrôle, le territoire de l’ancien État princier du Jammu-et-Cachemire est le symbole d’une Partition inachevée pour Islamabad tandis qu’il représente l’invalidation pratique de la Théorie des deux Nations pour New Delhi. Depuis 1947, la complexité des réalités religieuses et linguistiques du territoire du Jammu-et-Cachemire tend à s’effacer face au jeu des constructions idéologiques antagonistes des deux États qui le contrôlent. Des convictions opposées se transmettent de génération en génération dans l’opinion publique des deux pays, aboutissant à une opposition jusqu’ici irréconciliable des mémoires indienne et pakistanaise. En outre, les frontières stratégiques du Cachemire, ouvertes sur l’Asie centrale, représentent un impératif absolu en tant que limite septentrionale de ce qui peut être considéré comme les néo-empires indien et pakistanais. L’évolution des représentations des frontières de l’État princier du Jammu-et-Cachemire, depuis la seconde moitié du 19ème siècle jusqu’à sa partition en janvier 1949, constitue un héritage décisif dans le développement des représentations géopolitiques indiennes, pakistanaises mais aussi et surtout dans celles des habitants de la Vallée du Cachemire et des autres sous ensembles himalayens qui composaient l’État princier. / The Kashmir problem is a sensitive bone of contention between India and Pakistan, the two states stemming from the Partition of the British Empire in India in 1947. Split into two parts by a line-of-control, the territory of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir has been for Islamabad a symbol of the unfinished Partition, whereas for New Delhi it represents, for all intents and purposes, the revocation of the Two Nations Theory. Since 1947, the complexity of religious and linguistic realities of the Jammu and Kashmir territory tends to be downplayed in the ideological formulations of the two antagonistic States that control it. This confrontation between India and Pakistan in Kashmir crystallizes opposing convictions which are passed on from one generation to the next in both countries, thereby sanctioning the differences between the Indian and Pakistani national memories. Moreover, Jammu and Kashmir has strategic borders with Central Asia which constitute a hard and fast imperative for both, as the northern border of what could be called the Indian and the Pakistani neo-empires. Since the second half of the 19th century until its partition in January 1949, the evolution of the presentation of the borders of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir constitute a decisive legacy in the way the geopolitical presentations have evolved in India and Pakistan as well as in the Valley of Kashmir and in the others Himalayan entities which had formerly made up the Princely State of Jammu-and-Kashmir.

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India’s pledge towards universalization of elementary education by 2015 is a desirable goal. Having achieved progress towards universal accessibility to schooling, the problem of providing quality schooling through a necessary paradigm shift, is still a major challenge. This qualitative research study seeks to portray the nature of pedagogy in four elementary classrooms in Srinagar, Kashmir and understand its shifting nature with reference to the National Curriculum Framework (2005). Specifically, this study examines teachers’ classroom pedagogical practices, their understandings of pedagogy, the ways they encourage and manage student participation in classroom and the level of support and training they receive from government agencies. The findings of this study will have implications for both teachers and students, their specific roles, their understanding of pedagogy, classroom practices and more importantly students. This study recommends ‘contextually suitable’ pedagogical methods, informing teachers about effective teaching strategies, and outlining specific classroom participation strategies for students.

India’s pledge towards universalization of elementary education by 2015 is a desirable goal. Having achieved progress towards universal accessibility to schooling, the problem of providing quality schooling through a necessary paradigm shift, is still a major challenge. This qualitative research study seeks to portray the nature of pedagogy in four elementary classrooms in Srinagar, Kashmir and understand its shifting nature with reference to the National Curriculum Framework (2005). Specifically, this study examines teachers’ classroom pedagogical practices, their understandings of pedagogy, the ways they encourage and manage student participation in classroom and the level of support and training they receive from government agencies. The findings of this study will have implications for both teachers and students, their specific roles, their understanding of pedagogy, classroom practices and more importantly students. This study recommends ‘contextually suitable’ pedagogical methods, informing teachers about effective teaching strategies, and outlining specific classroom participation strategies for students.