It is my sad duty to report the passing of Craig
Baxter, Professor Emeritus of History and Political Science at Juniata College,
in hospice near his home in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Feburary 7, 2008
after a brief illness.
Craig's daughter Louise Baxter reports that a memorial
service will be held at the Huntingdon Presbyterian Church on Saturday,
February 23, 2008 at 5 pm.
Many of us knew Craig for his steady production
of high quality scholarship on South Asian politics and on the history of
Pakistan and Bangladesh. He
was active in the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, serving a term
as its president, and was among the organizers and first
president of the American Institute of Bangladesh
Studies.
To those of us who also knew him in the corridors
of conferences and academic committees, it must be said that he was, surely,
one of the nicest people in our field--by personality and career training
in the Foreign Service, he was a diplomat and a person of great affirmative
strength. It was always
a pleasure to see Craig at the AAS annual conference or the Conference on
South Asia in Madison.
Craig's formal education was at the University of
Pennsylvania, where he earned a BS in Economics in 1951 and, after military
service, an AM in Political
Science in 1954 prior to his joining the Foreign Service. During intervals
in his career he completed his PhD at Penn in 1967 writing a dissertation
in History on "The Jana Sangh, a biography
of an Indian political party." This
study became his first book of the same title published by the University
of Pennsylvania Press in 1969 and and Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Craig had state department overseas postings in
India 1958-64 (Bombay and Delhi), in Pakistan (Lahore) 1965-68, Ghana (Accra)
1974-76 and Bangladesh (Dhaka) 1976-77. Between 1968 and 1971 he was posted
in Washington, D.C. as a senior political officer for Pakistan and Afghanistan. He
was a Visiting Associate Professor in Social Sciences, United States Military
Academy 1971-74 and later also taught at the Northern Virginia Center of
the University of Virginia (now George Mason University) and at Mount Vernon
College. In 1969-71 he was Adjunct Lecturer in International Relations and
History at the University of Pennsylvania.
Following his government service, he joined the
faculty of Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania where he was Professor
of History and Political Science from 1982 to 1990, though he continued
as chair of Political Science 1991-94.
Craig's ability to serve organizations and institutions
was legendary. His many roles over his career, included service as a consultant
to:
National Foreign Estimate Center; Department of
State; United States Information Agency; Development Committee, American
Institute of Indian Studies; Asia Foundation; Asia Society; Georgetown University
Center for Strategic and International Studies; Middle East Institute; National
Defense University and the National Bureau for Asian Research, Seattle.
He was called upon as an expert witness for various Congressional committees.
Combining his scholarly interests in South Asia
with his extensive field experience, it was probably inevitable that Craig
would take a leading role in promoting American scholarship on the region. In
particular his interests in Pakistan and Bangladesh were well known. He
was Chairman of the Founding Committee of the American Institute of Bangladesh
Studies (1983-84) and AIBS President (1984-2000). He
served as a Trustee of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (1988-2002),
as a Member, Executive Committee, 1991-93 and AIPS President, 1993-1999.
He was a strong supporter and participant in the Middle Atlantic Region
Conference of the Association
of Asian Studies, serving in various official capacities from 1988 to 1994. Craig
was presented with the honor of "Distinguished Asianist" by the Mid-Atlantic
Region of the Association for Asian Studies in 2002--a reflection of both
his prodigious scholarship and his continued support for that regional AAS
conference.
I conclude this note with a bibliography of most
of Craig's publications. I think I speak for many people who would agree
that Craig Baxter was a person of unusual qualities; unusual energy, unusual
interests, unusual grace and unusual friendliness--we all were the better
for having known him.
Frank
Frank F. Conlon
Professor Emeritus of History, South Asian
Studies & Comparative
Religion
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-3560 USA
Co-editor, H-ASIA
President, H-NET Humanities & Social Sciences
Online
Managing Director, Bibliography of Asian Studies
Online
PUBLICATIONS
Books
_The Jana Sangh, a biography
of an Indian political party_ (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1969 and Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1971).
_District Voting Trends in India: a Research Tool_
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1969).
_Bangladesh: a New Nation in an Old Setting_ (Boulder
CO: Westview Press, 1984).
_From Martial Law to Martial Law: Politics in the
Punjab, 1919-1958_ (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 1985, and Lahore: Vanguard
Press, 1985). [An edited and annotated translation of _Martial Law-se Martial
Law-tak_ (Urdu) by Syed Nur Ahmad.
_Zia's Pakistan: Politics and Stability in a Frontline
State_ (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 1985, and Lahore: Vanguard Press, 1986).
Editor and contributor, (with Yogendra K. Malik,
Charles H. Kennedy, and Robert C. Oberst.)_Government and Politics in South
Asia_ (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 1987, and Lahore: Vanguard Press, 1988).
[Second edition: (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 1990).
Third edition: (Boulder CO: Westview Press, and Lahore: Pak Book Corportation,
1993). Fourth edition: (Boulder CO, 1998). Fifth edition: Boulder CO, 2002).]
_Historical Dictionary of Bangladesh_ (with
Syedur Rahman) (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1989). [Second edition:
(Metuchen NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1996). Third edition: (Lanham MD: Scarecrow
Press, and New Delhi: Vision Books, 2004)
_Pakistan: Authoritarianism in the 1980s_ (Lahore:
Vanguard Press, 1992).
Editor with Syed Razi Wasti and contributor. _Pakistan
Under the Military: Eleven Years of Zia ul-Haq_+ (Boulder CO: Westview Press
and
Karachi: Pak Book Corporation, 1990).
_Pakistan 1997_ [With Shahid Javed Burki] (Boulder
CO: Westview Press, 1997).
Editor with Charles H. Kennedy. _Pakistan 2000_
(Lanham MD: Lexington Books, and Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Editor with Charles H. Kennedy. _Pakistan on the
Brink (Lanham MD: Lexington Books, and Karachi: Oxford University Press,
2004).
Editor. _Diaries of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub
Khan, 1966-1972_ (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2008). [Edited and annotated
by Craig Baxter.]
Articles and Chapters in Collected Works
"Germany's Christian Democratic Party," _Social
Science_, XXX:1 (January, 1955).
"The Jana Sangh: a Brief History," in Donald E.
Smith, editor, _South Asian Politics and Religion_ ((Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1966).
"Pakistan Votes - 1970," _Asian Survey_, XI:3 (March,
1971).
"Pakistan: the Failure of Political Negotiations," _Asian
Survey_, XII:5 (May, 1972).
Under Pseudonym: David Dunbar. "Pakistan and Bangladesh," in
Richard F. Staar, editor, _1973 Yearbook of International Communist Affairs_
(Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1973).
"The People's Party vs. the Punjab 'Feudalists'," _Journal
of Asian and African Studies, VII:3-4 (July-October, 1973). [Also in J.
Henry Korson, editor, _Contemporary Problems of Pakistan_ (Leiden: Brill,
1974).
"Pakistan," in Richard F. Staar, editor, _1974 Yearbook
on International Communist Affairs_ (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press,
1974).
"Bhutto - Two Years On," _The World Today_, XXX:1
(January, 1974).
Under Pseudonym: David Dunbar. "India and Pakistan," in
Gregory Henderson, Richard Ned Lebow, and John G. Stoessinger, editors,
_Divided Nations in a Divided World_ (New York: David McKay, 1974).
"Constitution-Making: the Development of Federalism
in Pakistan," _Asian Survey_, XIV:12 (December, 1974).
"The Rise and Fall of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal in
Uttar Pradesh," in Myron Weiner and John Osgood Field, editors, _Electoral
Politics in the Indian States, Volume IV: Party Systems and Cleavages_ (Delhi:
Manohar, 1975).
"Resources for the Study of Pakistan," in Maureen
L.P. Patterson and Martin Yanuck, editors, _South Asia Library Resources:
Papers from the Boston Conference_ (Zug: Inter Documentation [Bibliotheca
Asiatica II], 1975).
"Socio-Economic Indicators of the People's Party
Vote in the Punjab: a Study at the Tehsil Level," _Journal of Asian Studies_,
XXXIV:4 (August, 1975). With Shahid Javed Burki. Also in W. Howard Wriggins,
editor, _Pakistan in Transition_ (Islamabad: University of Islamabad Press,
1975).
"Studies in the Development of Muslim Separatism," in
W. Eric Gustafson, editor, _Pakistan and Bangladesh: Bibliographic Essays
in the Social Sciences_ (Islamabad: University of Islamabad Press, 1976).
"The 1937 Election and the Sikandar-Jinnah Pact," by
Sir Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana, edited by Craig Baxter, _Panjab Past and Present_,
X:2 (October, 1976).
"Union or Partition: Some Aspects of Politics in
the Punjab, 1936-45," in Lawrence Ziring, Ralph Braibanti, and W. Howard
Wriggins, editors, _Pakistan: the Long View_ (Durham: Duke University Press,
1977).
"Bangladesh Votes - 1978 and 1979," _Asian Survey_,
XXI:4 (April, 1981). With M.Rashiduzzaman.
"National Target for South Asian Specialists," published
by South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, for National
Council on Foreign Languages and International Studies. With Richard D.
Lambert.
"Bangladesh at Ten: and Appraisal of a Decade of
Political Development," _The World Today_, 38:2 (February, 1982).
"Bangladesh," _The Washington Quarterly_, V:2 (Spring,
1982).
"Background Paper on Pakistan," New York, The Asia
Society, December, 1982. Prepared for the visit of President Muhammad Zia
ul-Haq of Pakistan.
"Pakistan and Bangladesh," in Frederick L. Shiels,
editor, _Ethnic Separatism and World Politics_ (Lanham,
MD: University Press of America, 1984).
"Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia," _Journal
of International Affairs_, 38/2 (Winter, 1985).
Articles in The Encyclopedia of Asian History (New
York: Charles Scribner's, 1987). Edited by Ainslie T. Embree.
"Pakistan and the Gulf," in Thomas Naff, editor,
_Gulf Security in the Iran-Iraq War_ (Washington: National Defense University
Press, 1985).
"India's Relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Iran," in Hafeez Malik, editor, _Soviet-American Relations with Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Iran_ (London: Macmillan, 1986, and New York: St. Martin's
Press, 1986).
"Continuing Problems in Bangladesh," _Current History_,
85:290 (March, 1986).
"Pakistan under Zia ul-Haq," in David H. Partington,
editor, _The Middle East Annual: Issues and Events_, Volume 5, (1985), (Boston:
G.K. Hall, 1986).
"People's Republic of Bangladesh," in George E.
Delury, editor, _World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties_ (New
York: Facts on File, 1987).
"India and Pakistan: Continued Conflict or Emerging
Cooperation?" _Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies_, XI:1
and 2 (Fall/Winter, 1987).
"Bangladesh," in Robert H. Taylor, editor, _Handbook
on Asia and the Pacific_ (New York: Facts on File, 1990).
"Bangladesh Military: Political Institutionalization
and Economic Development," in Charles H. Kennedy and David Louscher, editors,
_Asian and African Military Regimes_ (Leiden: Brill, 1991). With Syedur
Rahman. Also in _Journal of Asian and African Studies_, XXVI: 1-2 (1991).
"A New Pakistan Under a New and Changed Bhuttoism?" _Middle
East Insight_, VI:4 (Winter,
1989).
"The Struggle for Development in Bangladesh," _Current
History_, December, 1989.
"Zia ul-Haq and the Afghan Connection," in Adam
Garfinkle, _Friendly Tyrants_ (New York: St. Martin's Press, and London:
Macmillan, 1991).
"Domestic Politics" and "The International Environment," in
Shahid Javed Burki and Craig Baxter, eds., _Pakistan Under Military Rule:
A Decade of Zia ul-Haq_ (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991, and Lahore: Pak
Publications, 1991).
"Pakistan," in _Academic American Encyclopedia_
(Hawleyville, CT: Grolier, 1991).
"Bangladesh in 1990: Another New Beginning?" _Asian
Survey_ XXXI:2 (February 1991)
"Bangladesh Votes-1991: _Asian Survey_ XXXI:8 (August
1991). With Syedur Rahman.
"Bangladesh in 1991: a Parliamentary System," _Asian
Survey_ XXXII:2 (February 1992).
"Bangladesh: A Parliamentary Democracy if You Can
Keep It," _Current History_, March, 1992.
"History," in _Pakistan, a Country Study_ (Washington:
Library of Congress, 1994).
"History," in _Afghanistan, a Country Study_ (Washington:
Library of Congress, 1997, available only online).
"Bangladesh," in _Encyclopedia of Political Systems
and Political Parties (New York: Facts on File, third edition, 1995).
"Sheikh Mujibur Rahman," _New Dictionary of National
Biography_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
"Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia Revisited," _Asian
Studies (Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh), 1995.
"Bangladesh: Can Democracy Survive?" _Current History_,
95:600 (April 1996).
"Bangladesh War of Independence," _The Encyclopedia
of Political Revolutions_ (Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly Press,
1998).
"Political Development in Pakistan," in Hafeez Malik,
editor, _Pakistan: Founders' Aspirations and Today's Realities_ (Karachi:
Oxford University Press, 2001.
Articles on Bangladesh and Pakistan, _Encyclopedia
of Modern Asia_, 2002.
"Governance," in Donald Johnson, editor, _Teacher's
Guide to India_ (New York: Asia Society, 2004.
"Bangladesh, in _Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes
Against Humanity_
(Farmington Hills MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004).
"Bangladesh's Foreign Relations," in Devin T. Hagerty,
editor, _South Asia in World Politics_ (Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield,
2004).
"Tajuddin Ahmed," _New Dictionary of National Biography_,
Oxford: Oxford University Press,2005 .(in the on-line additions).
"Bangladesh," and "Pakistan," in James V. DeFronzo,
editor, _Revolutionary Movements in World History from 1750 to the Present_
(Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006).
