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Abstract
Using a politico-anthropological lens, this article explores how kinship networks, caste and ethnic identities, and localized customary authority shape state integration and, by extension, regional security. It argues that borders often bisect cultural ecologies, producing governance frictions that national integration policies must negotiate. The study examines language policy, resource access and land tenure as mechanisms through which the center bargains with peripheries, and shows how misaligned incentives can fuel cross-border sanctuaries for insurgents and illicit trade. It proposes that durable integration blends legal uniformity with plural institutional arrangements that recognize local authority. The analysis connects micro-level social structures to macro outcomes, explaining why formal treaties underperform when they ignore everyday practices anchoring legitimacy and compliance.
Full Text
The body grounds theory in ethnographic and historical vignettes from hill tracts, border haats and pilgrimage corridors. It details how clan obligations and dispute-resolution forums mediate conflict and taxation, sometimes substituting for weak state presence. A section on education and language policy shows how curricula and script choices can either stitch communities to the nation or harden boundary markers. Resource governance is analyzed through forests and grazing commons, linking environmental stewardship to social peace. The article then connects these dynamics to regional security: sanctuary effects, illicit commodity chains, and the role of diasporas in financing contention. Policy design lessons follow—co-production of services with customary institutions, grievance redress mechanisms, and participatory border management that legitimizes enforcement. The conclusion argues that integration succeeds when states translate national goals into locally intelligible rules, creating a virtuous cycle where compliance reduces security externalities and enables deeper regional cooperation.