A major new investigation into the Bhutto family, examining
their influence in Pakistan from the colonial era to the present
day The Bhutto family has long been one of the most
ambitious and powerful ...in Pakistan. But politics has cost the
Bhuttos dear. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, widely regarded as the most
talented politician in the country's history, was removed from
power in 1977 and executed two years later, at the age of 51. Of
his four children, three met unnatural deaths: Shahnawaz was
poisoned in 1985 at the age of 27; Murtaza was shot by the police
outside his home in 1996, aged 42; and Benazir Bhutto, who led the
Pakistan Peoples Party and became Prime Minister twice, was killed
by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi in 2007, aged 54. Drawing on
original research and unpublished documents gathered over twenty
years, Owen Bennett-Jones explores the turbulent existence of this
extraordinary family, including their volatile relationship with
British colonialists, the Pakistani armed forces, and the United
States.
Development analysts often focus on the role of “the state” in making the right rules by which to govern society, assuming that governance is exclusively or mainly the work of the central government ...authority. The reality in many developing countries, particularly those with weak central government authorities, is that governance happens through diverse rules and in many centers of decision-making, in ways that are formal and informal, official and unofficial. This real-world polycentricity can be dysfunctional or productive, depending in part on shared understandings between decision-making entities about how to relate to each other. Those shared understandings come from cultural backgrounds, historical interactions, and other sources. Political economist Anas Malik argues that well-functioning polycentricity in developing countries depends in part on the shared understandings between official government entities and unofficial units that provide collective choice in particular arenas. In Muslim-majority contexts, the Islamic tradition – contrary to the image of a top-down, single-voiced religious law- provides ample resources supporting shared understandings that accommodate diverse rules and collective choice units. Pakistan, the largest Muslim-majority country at its founding, provides an important case. After building on the development literature to suggest a typology of collective choice units in developing countries, Malik explores resources in the Islamic tradition that support polycentric governance. The book then examines major deliberations in Pakistan’s history, particularly through documented inquiries into serious political crises such as sectarian religious agitation and civil war, and through a selective survey of types of jurisdictions and collective choice units. Malik argues that there are significant polycentric understandings in Pakistan’s historical lineage, but that these are heavily contested. While there is potential for polycentric development in Pakistan, the viability of polycentric order is constrained by countering forces and contextual factors.
With an official population approaching fifteen million, Karachi is one of the largest cities in the world. It is also the most violent. Since the mid-1980s, it has endured endemic political conflict ...and criminal violence, which revolve around control of the city and its resources (votes, land and bhatta-"protection" money). These struggles for the city have become ethnicized. Karachi, often referred to as a "Pakistan in miniature," has become increasingly fragmented, socially as well as territorially. Despite this chronic state of urban political warfare, Karachi is the cornerstone of the economy of Pakistan. Gayer's book is an attempt to elucidate this conundrum. Against journalistic accounts describing Karachi as chaotic and ungovernable, he argues that there is indeed order of a kind in the city's permanent civil war. Far from being entropic, Karachi's polity is predicated upon organisational, interpretative and pragmatic routines that have made violence "manageable" for its populations. Whether such "ordered disorder" is viable in the long term remains to be seen, but for now Karachi works despite-and sometimes through-violence.
Pakistan Fair, C. Christine; Crane, Keith; Chivvis, Christopher S ...
04/2010
eBook
Open access
The authors exposit likely developments in Pakistan's internal and external security environment over the coming decade; assess Pakistan's national will and capacity to solve its problems, especially ...those relating to security; describe U.S. interests in Pakistan; and suggest policies for the U.S. government to pursue in order to secure those interests.
With the nuclearization of the Indian subcontinent, Indo-Pakistani crisis behavior has acquired a deadly significance. The past two decades have witnessed no fewer than six crises against the ...backdrop of a vigorous nuclear arms race. Except for the Kargil war of 1998-9, all these events were resolved peacefully.
Nuclear war was avoided despite bitter mistrust, everyday tensions, an intractable political conflict over Kashmir, three wars, and the steady refinement of each side's nuclear capabilities. Sumit Ganguly and Devin T. Hagerty carefully analyze each crisis, reviewing the Indian and Pakistani domestic political systems and key decisions during the relevant period.
This lucid and comprehensive study of the two nations' crisis behavior in the nuclear age is the first work on Indo-Pakistani relations to take systematic account of the role played by the United States in South Asia's security dynamics over the past two decades in the context of unipolarization, and formulates a blueprint for American policy toward a more positive and productive India-Pakistan relationship.
Established in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-8 by British officer Major General Robert Cawthorne, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence ...(ISI) for years remained an under-developed and obscure agency. In 1979, the organisation's growing importance was felt during the Soviet war in Afghanistan , as it worked hand in glove with the CIA to support the mujahideen resistance, but its activities received little coverage in news media.Since that time, the ISI has projected its influence across the region in 1988 its involvement in Indian Kashmir came under increasing scrutiny, and by 1995 its mentoring of what became the Afghan Taliban was well attested. But it was the organisation's alleged links with Al Qaeda and the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, at the heart of Pakistan's military zone, that really threw it under the spotlight. These controversies and many more have dogged the ISI, including its role in Pakistan's testing of a nuclear weapon in 1998 and its links with A.Q. Khan.Offering fresh insights into the ISI as a domestic and international actor based on intimate knowledge of its inner workings and key individuals, this startlingly original book uncovers the hitherto shady world of Pakistan's secret service.
With a population of 16 million, Karachi is the largest megacity in Pakistan. Despite being a large city that is home to many, it has seen a substantial decline in quality of life and economic ...competitiveness in recent decades. Basic service delivery is very poor, with very low indicators for water supply, sanitation, public transport and public spaces. Pollution levels are high, and the city is vulnerable to disasters and climate change. A highly complex political economy, institutional fragmentation, land contestation, crime and security issues and social exclusion exacerbate these issues and make city management challenging. The Karachi City Diagnostic and Transformation Strategy attempts to present detailed data on the economy, livability and key urban services of the city, by identifying and quantifying the requirements to bridge the services gap in the city. It also proposes pathways towards the transformation of Karachi into a more livable, inclusive and economically competitive city by outlining policy actions that the city can undertake. The first part of the report provides an in-depth review of Karachi and is organized into three themes focused on key aspects of city management: (i) city growth and prosperity – discussing city economy, competitiveness, business environment and poverty; (ii) city livability – discussing urban and spatial planning, urban governance and municipal service delivery (water and sanitation, public transport and solid waste); and (iii) sustainability and inclusiveness – discussing the city’s long term resilience based on fiscal management, disaster resilience and climate change, and social inclusion. In each section, a diagnostic is provided on the issues, along with possible prioritized actions to resolve them. The second part of the report concludes by identifying four pillars for city transformation. These include: (i) building inclusive, coordinated and accountable institutions; (ii) greening Karachi for sustainability and resilience; (iii) leveraging on the city's economic, social and environmental assets; and (iv) creating a smart city through smart policies and technology.
This book offers a comprehensive study of the dynamics of civil-military relations in Pakistan. It asks how and why the Pakistan military has acquired such a salience in the polity and how it ...continues to influence decision-making on foreign and security policies and key domestic political, social and economic issues. It also examines the changes within the military, the impact of these changes on its disposition towards the state and society, and the implications for peace and security in nuclearized South Asia.
This book explores the cultural politics of Pakistani crossover stardom in the Hindi film industry as a process of both assimilation and “Otherness”. Analysing the career profiles of three crossover ...performers – Ali Zafar, Fawad Khan, and Mahira Khan – as a relevant case study, it unites critical globalization studies with soft power theory in exploring the potential of popular culture in conflict resolution.
The book studies the representation and reception of these celebrities, while discussing themes such as the meaning of being a Pakistani star in India, and the consequent identity politics that come into play. As the first comprehensive study of Pakistani crossover stardom, it captures intersections between political economy, cultural representation, and nationalist discourse, at the same time reflecting on larger questions of identity and belonging in an age of globalization.
Crossover Stars in the Hindi Film Industry will be indispensable to researchers of film studies, media and cultural studies, popular culture and performance, peace and area studies, and South Asian studies. It will also be of interest to enthusiasts of Indian cinematic history.
