145 research outputs found
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SAUDI-IRAN RAPPROCHEMENT AND CHALLENGES FOR PAKISTAN
Full text linkSaudi-Iran relations have been continuously evolving, with regional and global implications. Though religious differences make up a large part of this relationship, it is not all. Multiethnicity, Arab versus Persian domination, and divergence of interests of regional and extra-regional players are also significant. The two regional heavyweights have driven the neighbouring states towards alliances of varying natures. It has repercussions for Pakistan due to its security, economic concerns, and religious and sectarian fault lines. Opportunely, the current political environment is developing prospects to rebuild relations. After unfinished rapprochement efforts by Pakistan, Iraq has recently made the latest endeavour of arbitration. This paper analyses the effects of the Saudi-Iran contention on Pakistan and the scope and implications of the current rapprochement effort. Primarily, the qualitative method has been used, and it has been established that due to the complexities of a relationship, achieving peace is not as easy as it appears. Also, from Pakistan’s perspective, escalation levels should ideally remain below the threshold of a dispute necessitating precise positions and above a minimum threshold of complete peace to keep Pakistan’s security-related relevance. Therefore, diplomatic efforts should be limited to de-escalating conflicts rather than mediating them.
Bibliography Entry
Saleem, Aamir, and Syed Mussawar Hussain Bukhari. 2022. "Saudi-Iran Rapprochement and Challenges for Pakistan." Margalla Papers 26 (1): 98-107
BOOK REVIEW: XI JINPING: THE GOVERNANCE OF CHINA
No full textSince 2017, Xi Jinping’s thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a ‘New Era’ has been the guiding principle for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). President Xi has been able to synthesize his vision and mission to restore China to its ancient preeminence and glory. This book is more inspiring than any vision emerging in the 21st century. More than 60 million people lifted out of poverty and over 13 million urban jobs created yearly are life- affirming. China is impressive as a torch bearer in the global endeavor to build an economic civilization through green development, national parks and solidarity with the struggling majority. With the economic opening up, Xi Jinping’s insistence on building a moderately prosperous society in all its respects has crystallized the Party\u27s wisdom and the people\u27s alignment with its history, theory and practice. “When the Great Way rules, this land under heaven belongs to the people
EXPLAINING JAMMU AND KASHMIR CONFLICT UNDER INDIAN ILLEGAL OCCUPATION: PAST AND PRESENT
Full text linkThe Jammu and Kashmir conflict remains one of the oldest UN agenda items. However, despite the genuine plight and legitimate demand for the right to self-determination, Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir continue to struggle for their lives and livelihood under Indian oppression and state-sponsored terrorism without respite. This paper, therefore, attempts to glean into the history of the conflict, which has a strong connection with the contemporary situation, while answering important questions: What circumstances compelled people to rush to Kashmir soon after the independence? How has India, over the decades, interpreted, misinterpreted, and manipulated world opinion in its favour? Why and how have the Muslim world and international community shown apathy towards the beleaguered Kashmiris? Lastly, can there be a way forward, especially after India’s illegal annexation of the UN declared disputed territory? It also highlights options available for a plausible solution to this humanitarian issue.
Bibliography Entry
Malik, Salma, and Nasreen Akhtar. 2021. "Explaining Jammu and Kashmir Conflict under Indian Illegal Occupation: Past and Present." Margalla Papers 25 (1): 23-35
POWER POLITICS OF SPORTS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND ITS EFFECTS ON CRICKET
Full text linkSports can influence people like all other cultural activities. They act as a diplomatic tool to alleviate tensions and improve ties between states. Millions worldwide follow their favourite sports passionately; however, states and leaders sometimes exploit these feelings to further their political agenda. There are examples of cricket diplomacy when relations between states (Pakistan and India) were tense, and it helped normalize the situation but never securitised itself. Securitization of sports is a recent phenomenon that, unfortunately, has marred the beauty of cricket. Political theorists suggest that existing issues of even low politics can hold more sway and attention among the masses if proponents of these issues succeed in securitizing them. Hence, by securitizing an innocuous subject like cricket, matters of low politics have been dragged into the domain of high politics. The recent abandonment of cricket tour to Pakistan by the New Zealand cricket team is an example of getting high politics into sports. This article, therefore, explores the dynamic power of sports in international relations besides analysing the role of high politics in cricket. It accentuates that punishing a country politically by depriving it of hosting international teams can disservice cricket, though it is a diplomatic tool for peace.
Bibliography Entry
Qadeer, Abdul. 2021. "Power Politics of Sports in International Relations and Its Effects on Cricket." Margalla Papers 25 (2): 84-90
UN FEMALE PEACEKEEPERS: AN ANALYSIS IN TERMS OF THEIR SERVICES
Full text linkUN peacekeepers serve under harsh and dangerous conditions to help and support the most vulnerable people in conflict zones. The UN recognizes the importance of gender responses in peacekeeping engagements. It has expanded the role and contribution of women in peacekeeping and considers their role critical to enhancing overall peace and security. This paper, therefore, aims to study the cost-benefit analysis of the UN peacekeepers in terms of their services. The study is based on qualitative research using Pakistani female peacekeepers as a case study to draw analysis based on informal conversation/interviews with the former female peacekeepers, officers, and trainers. It also examines the current UN peacekeeping training module. This paper argues that the cost and benefits of the peacekeepers should be in line with the services required and concluded that focusing on peacekeeping operations is impractical without proper training and facilitation.
Bibliography Entry
Naz, Farah. 2021. "UN Female Peacekeepers: An Analysis in Terms of their Services." Margalla Papers 25 (2): 121-129
FOREIGN POLICY IN HYBRID WARFARE ENVIRONMENT – WAY FORWARD FOR PAKISTAN
Full text linkHybrid warfare is neither a novel idea nor a new phenomenon. It has been evolving for ages, yet its manifestation in the contemporary era has intensified. Taking advantage of politico-ethnic fault lines, socio-religious vulnerabilities, and identity conflicts, hybrid warfare advocates using all means available including regular or irregular and conventional or unconventional ways of warfare to subdue the will of an adversary. An externally motivated and supported threat requires essential measures in the foreign policy domain to thwart and foil it outside the borders. Therefore, this paper deals with the conceptual aspects of hybrid warfare and highlights the contours of the hybrid threat currently confronting Pakistan. It navigates through the challenges for foreign policy formulation and implementation in a hybrid warfare environment and identifies loopholes and grey areas while recommending tangible measures.
Bibliography Entry
Naz, Imtiaz Hussain. 2021. "Foreign Policy in Hybrid Warfare Environment – Way Forward for Pakistan." Margalla Papers 25 (1): 1-11
RISE OF CHINA: GROWING STRATEGIC COMPETITION BETWEEN THE US AND CHINA
Full text linkThe emergence of China as a great power is indubitably one of the greatest perplexities in the international arena since the cold war era. Similarly, it poses challenges to the strategic position of the US. The economic and technological height of China has now become a big question mark for the US hegemony. The US has adopted some essential policies and actions like the B3W initiative and Strategic Competition Act of 2021, which label China a strategic competitor in multiple areas, including economics, technology, and military security. Such actions and policies by the US generate growing strategic competition between Beijing and Washington. However, the Chinese political elite has reservations that the US wants to curb the expansion of Chinese influence. This paper, therefore, analyses how strategic competition between China and the US increases with the rise of China, particularly after China’s BRI, and how China poses a challenge or an opportunity for the US. This paper employs the Power-transition theory as an analytical framework to investigate the power transition debated among policymakers in the US and China.
Bibliography Entry
Ali, Irfan, and Rubina Ali. 2021. "Rise of China: Growing Strategic Competition between the US and China." Margalla Papers 25 (1): 103-114
BOOK REVIEW: SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND
No full textSAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND
Bibliography Entry
Aleem, Sara. 2021. "Book Review: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind." Margalla Papers 25 (2): 130-131.
RESISTANCE OF WOMEN AGAINST INDIAN ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR: THEIR INVISIBILITY DURING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
Full text linkKashmiri female freedom fighters have remained at the forefront of the resistance movement, rallies, protest marches, and sit-ins. Unfortunately, their activism is invisible, and they have lagged during the dialogue process. The peace negotiations go awry to address the concerns, specific needs, approaches, views, and grievances of women during and after conflict situations. The UN has long been trying to address the concerns of women through varied resolutions, but the implementation of these mandates remains a formidable challenge. This research paper, therefore, aims to analyse the resistance and activism of Kashmiri women for their inalienable right of self-determination against the Indian Illegal Occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. The problem of Kashmiri women’s visibility in the resistance movement and their invisibility in the peace process is seen through the theoretical framework of Feminist Security Studies. For the textual interpretation and contextualization of data, Qualitative Content Analysis is employed. A way forward to address women’s issues and approaches during conflict situations is to implement the UN landmark Resolution-1325 on ‘Women, Peace, and Security’ by involving women in all stages of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction.
Bibliography Entry
Raazia, Izzat, and Saqib ur Rehman. 2021. "Resistance of Women against Indian Illegal Occupation of Jammu and Kashmir: Their Invisibility during Peace Negotiations." Margalla Papers 25 (1): 92-102
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ISLAMIC LAWS OF WAR AND IHL – POINTS OF CONVERGENCE FOR UNIVERSAL CONSENSUS ON LAWS OF WAR
Full text linkIn contemporary times, wars are not taking place in a legal vacuum. There are laws available on resorting to force and conduct of hostilities, including Islamic Laws of war and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). These legal regimes trace their origins in the teaching of elders that have further translated into rules and principles to limit the destructive nature of an armed conflict. Both systems are primarily concerned about regulating the behaviour of belligerents to avoid and at least minimize the sufferings of combatants and non-combatants in the theatre of war. This paper explores Islamic values and rules on the conduct of hostilities and compares them with similar provisions of IHL by using a comparative analysis approach. The objective of this study is not to judge Islamic Laws of war in contrast to IHL or vice versa but addresses the points of convergence. It analyses whether there is any significant difference between these two legal systems in observing principles and ethics of warfare, and provides a way out for humanization.
Bibliography Entry
Gardezi, Syed Mahmood Akhter Hussain. 2021. "Comparative Study of Islamic Laws of War and IHL – Points of Convergence for Universal Consensus on Laws of War." Margalla Papers 25 (1): 115-130