Challenges to the State 173want change, develop new approaches to prob lems, and push governments to take action.
However, these movements do not generally undermine state sovereignty.
ethnonational Movements
Another dramatic challenge to the state is found in ethnonational movements. The end
of the Cold War witnessed the demise of multi- ethnic states, such as the Soviet Union
and Yugo slavia, followed by the rise of demo cratic states in their stead. This po liti cal
change, coupled with the communications revolution of fax technology, cell phones, and
the Internet, has led to increasing demands by ethnonational movements. While the
demands differ in degree and kind, each poses a threat to the viability and sovereignty of
established states.
One of the more complex ethnonational movements with international implica-
tions involves Kashmir— a mountainous area at the intersection of India, Pakistan,
and China— and the Kashmiris, a people who are overwhelmingly Muslim but who
have traditionally been ruled by Hindus. When India (dominated by Hindus) and
Pakistan (dominated by Muslims) separated into two in de pen dent states in 1947, the
maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh, opted to join India, much to the dis plea sure of the
majority population. In 1947–48, and again in 1965, India and Pakistan fought
over the territory, which has been plagued ever since by tensions and periodic skir-
mishes. A Line of Control (LOC) was reestablished in 1972, dividing Kashmir into
India- administered Kashmir to the east and south, with 9 million people, and Pakistan-
administered Kashmir to the north and west, with 3 million people. In addition to the
rival claims of India and Pakistan, since 1989, a growing violent separatist movement
has fought against Indian rule in Kashmir. The Kashmiri ethnonational conflict has
been particularly difficult because its factions are both fighting for control of territory
and tied into the larger conflict between India and Pakistan. In 2003, India and Paki-
stan signed a cease- fire along their borders in Kashmir and established diplomatic ties,
reopening transportation links. But despite rounds of Indo- Pakistani peace talks, the
dispute continues. In 2007, a devastating train bombing ignited vio lence; in 2012, sol-
diers from both parties were killed in skirmishes; and in 2013, the boundary between
Punjab (Pakistan) and Jammu and Kashmir (India) saw the worst flare-up in de cades.
Ethnonationalist movements pose a challenge even to the strongest states. China
has been confronted by ethnic uprisings within the Muslim Uighur minority in the
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, its northwestern- most province, over the past
several de cades. Today, Xinjiang (a name the Uighurs find offensive), which makes up
one- sixth of China’s land area, is home to 20 million people and 13 ethnic groups. Of
these, 45 percent are Uighurs and 40 percent are ethnic Han. The Uighurs migrated to
the Chinese border region from the Mongolian steppe in the tenth century. They are a
Turkic- speaking race that follows Sufi Islam, a branch of Sunni. Their diaspora is