The four papers in this panel approach these fundamental questions through the dynamism of the region’s international engagements. Against the backdrop of the global Cold War, they examine how ideas of relevance, prestige, and exceptionalism in the international sphere shaped diverse experiments in nation-building. In doing so, they position South Asia as a critical participant in, and not only passive recipient of, global networks of knowledge production, ideational exchange, and cultural diplomacy.

Meher Ali’s paper examines the planning of Islamabad University, foregrounding the role of international aid agencies and development discourses in Pakistan’s effort to position itself within global scientific and educational networks. Akhil P. Veetil shifts the focus to debates over linguistic reorganization in India, focusing on the States Reorganisation Commission’s evaluation of linguistic states and its attempt to formulate a distinct “Indian” multilingualism in response to European, American, and Soviet models. Tariq Ali’s paper investigates Pakistan’s early efforts to establish economic sovereignty through the creation of a national currency alongside negotiations to join the International Monetary Fund, demonstrating how national economic policies were shaped by global financial institutions and Cold War economic imperatives. Finally, Nikhil Menon’s paper analyzes India’s projection of “national culture” — particularly through the sponsorship of classical dancers as international emissaries — as part of a global strategy of cultural diplomacy.

Taken together, these papers highlight how the states of India and Pakistan, while forging distinct paths, were enmeshed in international networks of finance, science, language politics, and cultural representation. In doing so, they advance our understanding of South Asia’s postcolonial trajectories as the products of profoundly inventive, multi-sited, and globally entangled processes.