Narrative warfare
THE battle of narratives is the least understood aspect of countering extremism and terrorism. Engaging primarily in hard approaches means states maintain a monopoly over countering extremism, with little input…
Hindutva hazard
The rise of the Sangh Parivar – Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate organizations – in India has unhinged two largely stable equilibria of co-existence in South Asia: a)…
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…
Grappling with the message?
With Bernie Sanders out of the race and Joe Biden having clinched the nomination of the Democratic Party, it is Trump vs Biden in November, an election that looks as…
Making sense of China
Recent events such as a new security law for Hong Kong, a border dispute with India, an ongoing trade war with the US, and a possible China-Iran strategic partnership have…
A pandemic wasted
An additional regret in these testing times is that we are wasting this momentous ‘gift’ of a pandemic. It seems that we are not paying sufficient attention to what Covid-19…
The making of a Hindu voting bank
Last week, India’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a massive rebuff in the local legislative election in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a relatively new and small political…
No time left
Today, humanity faces a situation unique in the 200,000 year existence of our species Homo sapiens sapiens, and unique in the 2 million year existence of our genus, Homo: the…
Political’ versus ‘liberal’ capitalism
Pakistan’s economy has always remained in a state of confusion. Except for the first decade or so when we went for import substitution our attempts to set our economy on…
The power of partnerships
The Power of Partnerships’ is the title of a recently published book authored by Kamal Hayat, the former CEO of the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF). The book is an…
