The American Institute of Pakistan Studies would like to solicit submission of unpublished manuscripts and books published during the last three years (2007-10) for the annual AIPS book prize. There will be three categories of competition resulting in, a Junior Award for those who received their PhD within the past seven years (2003 or after); a Senior Award for those who received their PhD more than seven years ago (before 2003); and a Distinguished Book Award by persons without advanced degrees. Applicants for the Junior Award may submit a revised dissertation, a completed first-book manuscript that is not based on a dissertation, or a published first book. Senior and Distinguished Book Award applicants may submit a book manuscript or a published book. Unrevised dissertations and rough drafts will not be considered.
Each award recipient will receive a $1500 prize from AIPS. In addition, AIPS will recommend each manuscript for publication in Pakistan with an appropriate press. Publishing in Pakistan is strongly encouraged but not a condition of the award. A publication subvention may be provided, as necessary. The prizes will be announced in February 2011.
A prize committee will determine the yearly winners and can choose to designate no winner in any given year if worthy submissions are lacking. Applicants in all disciplines are encouraged to apply.
Process: Four copies of the manuscript or published book should be submitted to the Book Prize Committee Chair by June 15, 2010.
1) Depth and accuracy of the research
2) Potential to attract new students and scholars to Pakistan Studies
3) Potential to integrate Pakistan studies more fully into vibrant disciplinary
and interdisciplinary discussions
4) Innovativeness of approach
5) Clarity and elegance of writing
Submit manuscripts/books to:
Book Prize Committee Chair
AIPS
5240 Social Science Building
1180 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Ayesha Siddiqa's Military Inc. is a courageous work exposing the Pakistan military's largely invisible parallel economy; one that siphons off a sizable share of the Pakistani state's resources to benefit a select few. The work goes beyond the "national security" analysis of Pakistan's military's reluctance to relinquish control; it shows that the defense service's motivations for dominance are rather parochial. Siddiqa's theoretical framework also analyzes the role of the Turkish and Indonesian militaries, showing how other "professional" militaries can have "unprofessional" interests; this impedes the development of a vibrant democracy. Written in lucid prose, this work charts new ground in its analysis of how the Pakistan military's economic interests contribute to its imperative to gain state power while providing a theoretical framework that engages broader questions of the relationship between militaries and state power. In doing so, Military Inc. makes an important contribution to the comparative study of military-state-society relations while providing for Pakistan--both through its empirical depth and cogent analysis--a critical history of the present. It is a new and innovative work that invites exploration of the Pakistan project that extends beyond the "Muslim question" and probes the institutions that failed in delivering the promise of improvement to the people in the newly found Muslim homeland.