Harvard historian Niall Ferguson's 'six killer applications' theory is the latest attempt to unravel the mystery of the decline of Western civilization. Ferguson in his recent work Civilization: The West and the Rest, chronicles the rise of the Western Civilization during the past 500 years and explains how...

It would be an understatement to suggest that the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt have profound implications for the theory and practice of democracy. Commitment to democracy has assumed dramatically different connotations both in terms of adherence by national governments and support of the international community. Removal of Egyptian President...

Jayant Sinha and Ashutosh Varshney have in an interesting article, contented that "both in its rot and heady dynamism, India is beginning to resemble America's Gilded Age (1865-1900)." The article in Financial Times, titled "It is time for India to reign in its robber barrons" Sinha and Varshney...

President Obama's comment that "India is not simply emerging but has emerged" charmed his Indian audience. Was President Obama's assessment rhetorical or was he making a valid appraisal? India's record on indices of democratic governance, economic growth and socio-political stability are encouraging if not exquisite. Yet power implies a relational...

Struggles for democracy and struggles of democracy may be different but are struggles nonetheless.

The civilian protests in the Kashmir region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir have been accompanied by a proliferation of literature on the intra-national dimension of the dispute, especially the issue of Human Rights. If...

I am compelled to share an excerpt from a post by Murtaza Ali Jafri on the Dawn Blog . I was unable to discern my reaction after reading it: is it funny or pathetic?

Last month, the Punjab Assembly resolved to ban all late-night call packages offered by...

Connecting through virtual communities has become the norm of social life for people across the globe. From acquiring cooking skills to dealing with relationship problems, from expressing political views to cribbing about economic incentives at workplace, the social media has emerged as a platform to discuss anything and everything.

After his widely criticized release, Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan is now on his way to regain his place as the country's revered hero. Commenting before the formal release of A. Q. Khan in February this year, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Gordon Duguid referred to Khan as a "serious...

The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Ordinance 2009 was approved by Pakistan's Federal Cabinet last week. The Ordinance is directed towards granting internal political autonomy to the Northern Areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The Ordinance, however, falls short of local demands and is only a change in nomenclature rather than...

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Mines were first used in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation (1979-1989) and have led to the death of over 70,000 Afghans in the past two decades.

Ninety percent of these mines are spread across arable land,...