Democracy beyond elections
Elections are an integral part of democracy. But even a free and fair election is not the only factor that makes a country a liberal democracy. In an essay published…
Civil-military ties
THE people of Pakistan have a strong democratic temperament. Throughout the year, the country’s many elections are robustly contested in bar associations, chambers of commerce, professional associations, unions, civil society…
A Rubik’s Cube
IF you can recall the Rubik’s Cube, you are a child of the 1980s. Its inventor Ernő Rubik (a Hungarian professor of architecture) perfected his brainchild in 1979, intending it…
The myth of tomorrow
Hands folded before him, eyes darkened with age, hair neatly slicked back, Iskandar Mirza seemed perfectly at ease speaking into the microphone that morning. Having dissolved the assemblies at midnight,…
Judicial Commission controversy
“Disagreements have often occurred between the chief justice of India and the most senior judge of the court who, historically, have been unable to get along”. — Abhinav Chandrachud, Supreme…
Bhutto’s legacy
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has long been a proponent of progressive politics, aiming to propel the country forward. On the 27th of December, the nation commemorates the death anniversary…
A judicial legacy
Every chief justice of Pakistan has the opportunity to choose issues for engagement that will define the tenor of the Supreme Court with him as the pater familias. Some have…
Fed’s Powell set table for Biden economy, but will he stay for dessert?
Over the past year Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has engineered the largest economic rescue in US history, thrown a controversial lifeline to companies hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic…
Politicians’ revenge
NOT long after the US appointed a national security adviser in 1947 that a rash spread over a large part of the democratic world. Countries began appointing NSAs minus the…
The governance debate misses the point
The cleavage among our digital warriors, who spend hours debating the dysfunctionalities of government, is hard to disguise. Right versus left, and the alluring part in between, is passé. What…
