Local orders and international engagement in South Asia (Matthew J. Nelson, Brookings)

Non-state social orders (local orders)—tribal, Islamic, mafia-based, etc.—can exert significant control over their populations, supplementing, and occasionally replacing, state-level governance. In this paper, Matthew J. Nelsonoutlines four cases of local orders in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Noting that these orders are quite difficult to change, he analyzes the ways in which Western social and governmental organizations might be able to engage with members of these communities more effectively by working within these orders rather than against them. He asserts that the challenge does not lie in replacing local orders with a monolithic appreciation for state power, but in developing the area-specific knowledge required to operate within local orders while, at the same time, appreciating the delicate balance, and difficult trade-offs, between them.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/05/local-orders-south-asia-nelson