Pakistan's Floundering Government: What's at Stake for Pakistan and the World
VIEW EVENT DETAILSWith Farzana Shaikh, Associate Fellow, Asia Programme, and Director, Pakistan Study Group, Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), London
In conversation with Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai
Pakistan's weak democratic institutions and uncertain sense of identity have for long been blamed for the country's pressures. Issues like a volatile Afghanistan, rising commodity prices, and ever-increasing terrorism have exacerbated security, political, economic, and religious tensions in the country. How will recent developments in Pakistan—from the assassination of Salman Taseer to a flailing coalition government—impact the region and emanate outside of it? To what extent can the current protests against authoritarian rule in the Middle East and North Africa affect Pakistan? And finally, what role do foreign countries play, if any, in assisting Pakistan to stabilize?
Farzana Shaikh is an Associate Fellow of the Asia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, where she directs the Pakistan Study Group. She was born and brought up in Karachi, Pakistan, where she also received much of her education. After an MA in Political Science from the University of Karachi, she left Pakistan to pursue her studies at Columbia University in New York, where she was awarded a Ph.D in Political Science. Soon after she was elected to a Research Fellowship in Politics at Clare Hall Cambridge. Since then she has lectured at universities in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, and most recently was named a Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She is a frequent commentator on current affairs in Pakistan for the media in Britain and abroad and continues to write extensively on the history and politics of Muslim South Asia. She is the author of Community and Consensus in Islam: Muslim representation in Colonial India 1860-1947, Making Sense of Pakistan, and many others publications.
Sudheendra Kulkarni is Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, a non-partisan public policy think tank. He is also a social activist and a commentator on national and international affairs. His column has been running for the past five years in The Sunday Indian Express and several reputed Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada dailies in India. He was an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office during the tenure of former Prime Minister Shri A. B. Vajpayee. During this time, he was member of key nation-building initiatives such as the Prime Minister's Task Force on Information Technology in 1998-1999, which laid the basis for India's accelerated growth in the IT sector. He was also a member of the Prime Minister's Group on Telecom & IT, which formulated India's New Telecom Policy in 2001, and the Group on Infrastructure Development. He contributed to several landmark developmental initiatives of the government including the National Highway Development Project, the Prime Minister's Rural Roads Development Project, National Railway Development Project, National Railway Safety Technology Initiative, and National Slum Housing & Sanitation Initiative.
AsianAffairs investigates the most pertinent socio-political and economic issues that affect the continent to decode the intricate relations among nations.
RSVP:
[email protected]
Outreach Partners: Princeton University Alumni Association
Hospitality Partner: Mirador Hotel
In conversation with Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai
Pakistan's weak democratic institutions and uncertain sense of identity have for long been blamed for the country's pressures. Issues like a volatile Afghanistan, rising commodity prices, and ever-increasing terrorism have exacerbated security, political, economic, and religious tensions in the country. How will recent developments in Pakistan—from the assassination of Salman Taseer to a flailing coalition government—impact the region and emanate outside of it? To what extent can the current protests against authoritarian rule in the Middle East and North Africa affect Pakistan? And finally, what role do foreign countries play, if any, in assisting Pakistan to stabilize?
Farzana Shaikh is an Associate Fellow of the Asia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, where she directs the Pakistan Study Group. She was born and brought up in Karachi, Pakistan, where she also received much of her education. After an MA in Political Science from the University of Karachi, she left Pakistan to pursue her studies at Columbia University in New York, where she was awarded a Ph.D in Political Science. Soon after she was elected to a Research Fellowship in Politics at Clare Hall Cambridge. Since then she has lectured at universities in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, and most recently was named a Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She is a frequent commentator on current affairs in Pakistan for the media in Britain and abroad and continues to write extensively on the history and politics of Muslim South Asia. She is the author of Community and Consensus in Islam: Muslim representation in Colonial India 1860-1947, Making Sense of Pakistan, and many others publications.
Sudheendra Kulkarni is Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, a non-partisan public policy think tank. He is also a social activist and a commentator on national and international affairs. His column has been running for the past five years in The Sunday Indian Express and several reputed Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada dailies in India. He was an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office during the tenure of former Prime Minister Shri A. B. Vajpayee. During this time, he was member of key nation-building initiatives such as the Prime Minister's Task Force on Information Technology in 1998-1999, which laid the basis for India's accelerated growth in the IT sector. He was also a member of the Prime Minister's Group on Telecom & IT, which formulated India's New Telecom Policy in 2001, and the Group on Infrastructure Development. He contributed to several landmark developmental initiatives of the government including the National Highway Development Project, the Prime Minister's Rural Roads Development Project, National Railway Development Project, National Railway Safety Technology Initiative, and National Slum Housing & Sanitation Initiative.
AsianAffairs investigates the most pertinent socio-political and economic issues that affect the continent to decode the intricate relations among nations.
RSVP:
[email protected]
Outreach Partners: Princeton University Alumni Association
Hospitality Partner: Mirador Hotel
Event Details
Tue 22 Feb 2011
Observer Research Foundation, NKM International House, 5th Floor, 178, Backbay Reclamation, Babubhai Chinai Marg, Mumbai Mumbai
Please email [email protected] for ticketing details.