Benjamin Hopkins

Former Public Policy Fellow

Professional Affiliation

Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, The George Washington University

Expert Bio

Benjamin Hopkins is an associate professor of history and international affairs at the George Washington University. Having received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2006, his research interests focus on Afghanistan, British imperialism and the history of the South Asian subcontinent. He has authored three books – The making of modern Afghanistan (2008); Fragments of the Afghan frontier (2012: co-authored with Magnus Marsden); and Ruling the Savage Periphery (2020) – as well as co-edited Beyond Swat (with Magnus Marsden). He is particularly interested in issues of state formation and state violence and the lasting effects of the past on the present.

Wilson Center Project

"Frontiers of State-Making: State Construction and the Frontier Crimes Regulation"

Project Summary

The project examines the role of the ‘frontier’ both as a space and governing category of the colonial state, and its lasting effects on the post-colonial states of South Asia. It considers how the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier has been historically conceived, actualized and governed by state authorities, as well as local inhabitants, from the late nineteenth century onwards. The colonial origins of the frontier and its patterns of governance continue to shape the lived reality there today. Without a better understanding of this region’s complicated past, the US and its allies can hope to do little better in its complex present.