Rewriting the social contract
In Pakistan’s rural heartlands, a silent revolution is underway. For more than a century, the Indus Basin canal network, designed under British colonial rule, dictated the rhythm of agriculture. The…
Climate-smart social protection
PAKISTAN’S social protection system is at a crossroads. Traditional social protection systems, while providing critical support for poverty reduction, are not designed to address the compounding challenges of climate-triggered disasters. The country’s…
Moral panic and social change
LAST week in an interview to a private TV channel, the prime minister made several remarks about what he believed were indicators of moral degradation in Pakistani society, and the underlying reason…
The social democratic model
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is clearly on a mission to revive the party in Punjab, and especially in Lahore. For the first time in recent times, he tried to…
Economic and social survey for Asia and the Pacific 2018: mobilizing finance for sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth
Asia and the Pacific remains the engine of the global economy. It continues to power trade, investment and jobs the world over. The two-thirds of the region's economies grew faster…
A social democratic alternative
The mainstream parliamentary parties are being eroded as the alignment of democratic forces breaks down and the Charter of Democracy evaporates at the altar of expediency. With this erosion, the…
Beyond social mobilisation
My previous article, titled ‘Making sense of suicides’ published in these pages on March 15, was an attempt to provide a sociological perspective of why people commit suicide in societies…
Catalysts for social transformation
The traditional approaches of service delivery adopted by NGOs are fast losing credence in a world that is shaped by a benign ideological coercion. NGO-led mega projects of social services…
Bilawal’s quest for a social democratic agenda
We had an intense discussion with Bilawal Bhutto at the end of the PPP’s provincial and national bodies’ meetings, attended by over 20,000 enthusiastic activists, in Lahore. What will be…
The social contract debate
CAN the prevalent political unrest and discontent in Muslim societies be regarded as a desire for change? In other words, are Muslim societies in search of new social contracts? The…
