HISTORY attests that the conclusion of military alliances often leads to military conflict. Indeed, alliances are often formed for the purpose of waging war. It is thus ominous that several new alliances, formal and informal, are emerging currently in various parts of the world. In South Asia, America’s new alliance with India has emboldened the Modi government to adopt a …

Why people come out on roads to protest against the system? People ‘come on roads if the (political) system is in danger in other countries,’ observed Senate Chairman, Mian Raza Rabbani, while addressing the Sindhi Literature Festival in Karachi on October 28, 2017. He called upon the civil society to stand against unconstitutional measures to keep the country on the …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — I never thought I’d live long enough to write this sentence: The most significant reform process underway anywhere in the Middle East today is in Saudi Arabia. Yes, you read that right. Though I came here at the start of Saudi winter, I found the country going through its own Arab Spring, Saudi style. Unlike the …

Now once again China is reaching out to the world but this time in a different way. Compared to its opening to the West after the visit by President Richard Nixon in 1972, China’s ‘new opening’ has a different geographic orientation. Then Pakistan played an important role. It is once again involved as Beijing is opening itself to the West …

General Bajwa is increasingly playing a key role in setting right the direction of Pakistan’s relations with neighbouring countries. His recent visit to estranged Iran has been termed historic by certain analysts In April 2017, sections of the Pakistani media started speculating that Chief of the Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, may undertake a visit to Iran “in the …

A theory of international relations is a set of ideas that explain how the international system works. Unlike an ideology, a theory of international relations is (at least in principle) backed up with concrete evidence. The two major theories of international relations are realism and liberalism. REALISM Realism, also referred to as Political Realism, is one of the oldest theories …

The provisional results of Pakistan’s 6th census show that the country now hosts 207 million people. The results exhibit that Pakistan is still stuck in Malthusian growth, even if things on the economy front are getting better. But, economic development doesn’t mean that a substantial rise in living standards has occurred; that is what we mean by Malthusian.  Pakistan’s population …

We have a lot to learn from “No place has been out of bounds and no grounds left unturned. No tolerance has been shown in the fight against corruption. We have taken firm action to take out tigers, swatted flies and hunted down foxes.”  — Xi Jinping  The President of People’s Republic China Since becoming China’s leader in 2012, Xi …

On September 26, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released its updated Asian Development Outlook – 2017. The report contains warnings for Pakistan that the country’s economy is increasingly becoming vulnerable to external shocks and funding shortfalls. Xiaohong Yang, ADB’s country director for Pakistan, said given the coming challenges in the near future, the “Government of Pakistan must carefully manage external …

While a dwindling band of refuseniks still insist that is doesn’t exist, climate change is already here, and it’s only going to get worse, with some of the severe effects having already started to take hold. The Paris Agreement was implemented as a collaborative global response to climate change, with a goal of reducing emissions. It aims to keep the …