UNIVERSITY OF THE PUNJAB
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The Major Economic Issues Confronting Pakistan and Possible Solutions (1990-2003)
No full textEvery nation needs and desires to be developed and prosperous as soon as possible, but in-spite of all their efforts to achieve economic development the less developed countries are facing many economic issues such as low growth rate, high population rate, poverty, low investment, debt problem and unemployment. Pakistan, as an underdeveloped country is confronted by major challenges. In recent years, Pakistan has faced severe macroeconomic imbalances declining economic growth, rising poverty, and poor social indicators. During the 1990s, the fiscal deficit and the current account deficit as a proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP) averaged 6.9 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively (compared with the 1980s average of 7.0 and 3.9 percent respectively). The average economic growth rate decelerated from 6.5 percent in the 1980s to 5.4 percent in the first half of the 1990s, and to 3.6 percent in the second half. The incidence of poverty increased from just over 20 percent in the late 1980s to 32 percent in 1998/99.
Post 9/11 Challenges for Pakistan: Trends in Foreign Policy, Regional and Global Perspective
No full textThe relations of the Muslim World with Christian countries wavered between harmony and hostility over the fourteen centuries. The pathways of the Muslim world and the west have crisscrossed on many occasions. After World War II, the emergence of Israel created the Palestinian problem. Consequently clear American support for Israel has also generally antagonized Muslims. While the governments of Muslim countries could be brought under many kinds of pressures including sanctions, non-state actors could not be easily controlled. Like resistance against Israelis, the Russian attack on Afghanistan was met with a violent reaction, which was finally exploited by the United States. During this period Muslims from many countries joined in this struggle against the Russians. These “Mujahids” were gradually armed by the US with highly sophisticated weapons, which led to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. This was followed by mutually destructive warfare between various factions of Afghan resistance. During this period, seasoned Muslim fighters returned to their state of origin and organized militant outfits to pursue their ideals based on their worldview. This led to many stresses and strains in their politically fragile societies. During the period, after the demise of the Soviet Union, the United State was generally blamed for most of the Muslim miseries. A similar disappointment process also happened in the Soviet Union. While Tatarisitan and Bashkiristan followed policies that were politically acceptable to the Kremlin, Chechnya was radicalized and became a nightmare for Russia
‘Climate Change and Political Letdown: Understanding Environmental Degradation through the Prisoner’s Dilemma.’1
No full textThis paper attempts to analyze the political uncertainty surroundingenvironmental degradation by means of utilizing the game theoretical model. It challenges the popular opinion that views the political exchanges over climate change as a super game where players will eventually learn to cooperate through repeated interactions. Instead the paper argues that the climate change problemis essentially a case of ‘one-shot prisoner’s dilemma’ irrespective of the number of times the players interact with one another. To demonstrate the one-shot prisoner’s dilemma at play, it employs the comparative method to explain the climate politics between the major polluters of the world (US, China, Brazil and India). The debate is analyzed at two distinct levels: Intergenerational and Intra generational level. Lastly, the paper notes the significance of ‘the immediate threat factor’, which it argues poses a fundamental challenge to the political resolution of the climate change problem
Women in Islam: Diverse Experiences In Muslim World And western Societies
No full textMuslim Women have always fascinated the imaginations of western intellectuals, feminists and human rights advocates. They have either been portrayed as exotic and erotic belly dancers from the Middle East (Orientalists like Edward Said have discussed this portrayal in detail) or as silent victims of male oppression behind the veil or hidden in their house without any public space
CONTINUATION OF‘THE COLONIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, LEGAL AND OTHER SYSTEMS
No full textThe arrival of Vasco da Gama on the West Coast of India in .1498 ushered in a revolutionary era in the history of South Asia. It ended forever the isolation of the region from” other parts of the world, particularly the West. which had been in force for centuries due to the peculiar geographical features of the Indian Ocean. Forthe first time in the history of the Indian Ocean region a direct link was established with the West and the course of events in this'palt of the world was to be determined by the developments in the Atlantic
Globalization, Governance and Islam in the new Millennium
No full textIn the new millennium, the world is faced with several challenges, the most important of which is globalization of the economy. This is occurring partly because of sharp declines in telecommunications and transport expenses, deregulation, interacting with accelerating changes in communications and computer technology, has reinforced the movement towardsan integreated global market. 
Dual system of Education and Poverty Persistence in Pakistan
No full textthis article invesigates the daulity of institutions (official versus indigenous) in the area of education in Pakistan. It is assumed that some pooor people. due to various structural reasons, cannot affort to get their children enrolled in official sch0ools. Instead, they send their kids to Madrassas (indigenous institutions) which provide free education, food and boarding logistics, However, these Madrassas impart the type of education hardly relevant for the increasing completitive job market. Further, Madrassa education heavily influences the lifestyle and worldview of its students. Consequently these students remained sociallly excluded and have minimum participation in the economic actvities. For empirical evidence, field data were collected from the district of DG Khan. Randomly selected teachers of Madrassa, students and their parents were intervied
Nuclear North Korea
No full textNorth Korea's recent announcement that it had successfully tested a nuclear device should be of grave concern to the world community, The level of threat is of an order of magnitude much greater than that posed by Iraq (In 2003) or Iran today mostly because of NorthKorea's continual belligerence and its ability to turn its back on the few friends it had in the international community. Unlike Iran which continues to hold talks off-and-on, has yet to develop a nuclear weapon, and at least tries to claim it is pursuing nuclear options for peaceful purposes, North Korea has boycotted talks, broken disagreements made at past talks, rejected and Nuclear talks, Proliferation Treaty (NPT), developed nuclear capabilities (without any peaceful purpose claim), and most recently, has tested one of these weapons. This is perhaps the gravest security threat the international community faces today
Azad Kashmir as a factor in India-Pakistan Relations
No full textIn visible contrast to the growing body of scholarship on India's relations with Kashmir,ties between Pakistan and Azad (Free) Kashmir have received scant scholarly attention. This intellectual "silence" is partly a function of the small size of the area comprising Azad Kashmir, the marked absence of violence in the internal politics of the territory under Pakistani control, and largely due to the pre-dominantly status-quo bias of the "partition literature". Yet, the significance of Pakistan-Kashmir ties can harly be exaggerated. Symbolically, as noted Victoria Schofield, "As so long as Azad Jammu and Kashmir existed", Pakistan could convincingly argue that "an alternative formula other than integration witin the Indian Union presented itself to the Kashmiri's across the ceassefire line.
A community-led intervention to support elementary social-emotional skill development: An exploratory study
Get PDFSchool-based social-emotional learning programs have shown promising results for student academic and social achievement; however, it is recommended that more studies be implemented in the afterschool setting. Afterschool programs are out-of-school time strategies that allow students opportunities to reinforce academic and other skills learned during the school day. An afterschool program of a rural, Midwest US school district had no formal, elementary-level, social-emotional learning curriculum. A community-based, youth-serving organization, therefore, implemented a traditional school-based social-emotional learning intervention with full curricular units into the district’s afterschool program. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine elementary student participant social-emotional knowledge and observed social-emotional behaviors before and after the community-led intervention in this school district’s afterschool program. Once each week for six weeks, student participants were instructed in 45 minute-long interactive social-emotional learning lessons that used streaming video to teach pro-social knowledge and skills. Student participants’ social-emotional knowledge (measured by Knowledge Assessment accompanying the program) as well as frequency of observed sharing and befriending pro-social behaviors (measured by Child Social Behavior Questionnaire/Teacher-Rating Version) significantly increased pre-post program. However, frequency of observed physical and psychological abuse (negative social behaviors) as well bullying victimization were not significantly decreased. If results of this exploratory study are confirmed in future, larger studies, social-emotional learning programs can be effective additions to afterschool programs to enhance school-based outcomes