Policymaking and the Political–Military Interface on the Periphery of Empire

Gifford, Jayne (2025) Policymaking and the Political–Military Interface on the Periphery of Empire. In: At the Margins of Empire. Frontiers and Boundaries in British India. Empire and Frontiers (1st). Routledge, London. ISBN 9781003620778

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Abstract

The extension of Britain's frontiers following the First World War and the defeat of Britain's imperial rivals rather than auguring in a period of security through dominance, actually brought the reverse. This chapter will examine the policymaking at the political–military interface of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), a sensitive strategic border during the early 1920s. Political and military officers had to consider, and respond, to two very different threats: an external one, in the form of support for the frontier tribes from the Afghan Amir and Bolshevik Russia; and an internal policing one in the form of tribal raids and unrest that tied up a large proportion of the Indian Army. It will demonstrate that a network of knowledge between political and military officers both in India and London was vital in this sphere of contested policymaking. As the approach taken by political officers in the region diverged away from that advocated by the military it was, in the end, the army's superior network of military officers based in the NWFP, Delhi, and London plus Henry Seymour Rawlinson, Commander-in-Chief of the army in India, that ensured the success of a military strategy and effectively resisted persistent demands for retrenchment.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	imperial politics,peripheries,frontier governance,arts and humanities(all),social sciences(all),economics, econometrics and finance(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Global & Transnational History
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	07 Nov 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2025 17:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100928
DOI:	10.4324/9781003620778

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