Dilip Gogoi, Making of India’s Northeast: Geopolitics of Borderland and Transnational Interactions, Routledge, 2020.
Reviewed by Chinggelniang
Making of India’s Northeast: Geopolitics of Borderland and Transnational Interactions by Dilip Gogoi, is an engaging book that explores topics of borderland, sub-state, territories, and geopolitics. The conceptual framework of the research examines state behavior and interstate interactions while drawing largely on theories of international relations. In addition to charting the idea of Northeast India’s sub-state territory, it delves into the region’s complex political and socioeconomic challenges. The first chapter discusses the notion of sub-state and its exclusion from the dominant theories of international relations. Gogoi discusses how he attempts to investigate the same through an intensive study on Northeast India, the region that is often viewed as a geopolitically sensitive and distinctive region of India (p 1). The rationale behind selecting the sub-state region of Northeast India for this study is linked to the post-colonial state-making process, which saw the introduction of a new notion of border and sovereignty (p 4). As a result, it prompted the construction of additional barriers, further dividing several ethnic groups who were on the “margins” of the process. It also led to the introduction of multiple political and socio economic issues in the region.