IPRI JournalPub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.31945/iprij.210207
Maheen Ahmad
{"title":"Recent Upsurge in Sectarianism in Pakistan : Understanding the Sunni-Shia Divide as a Case-study of Inter-Group Rivalry and the Role of Ultra-Right Parties","authors":"Maheen Ahmad","doi":"10.31945/iprij.210207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210207","url":null,"abstract":"There is a heightened concern in Pakistan over the rise of violent sectarianism, which has been pitting certain sections of denominational groups against each other, often assuming violent proportions. At the forefront of this renewed phase with a strong antiShia sentiment is the role of hate-spewing divisive elements, more specifically ultra-right elements that are exacerbating an exaggerated division between Sunni and Shia Muslims for their own political motives. If their momentum is sustained, then the risk is that they can further radicalize the mainstream and lodge one group against the other, putting them in a perpetual state of animosity, whereby Pakistani citizens may experience intense and implosive antagonism. This paper attempts to explain this emerging scenario in the light of theoretical frameworks of social and cognitive psychology underpinning inter-group dynamics and offers certain lessons from the erstwhile Hutu/Tutsi divide in the Rwandan Genocide of the 1990s.","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48121979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.31945/iprij.210203
Saif-ul-Haq
{"title":"Indian Naval Modernization and its Implications for Pakistan","authors":"Saif-ul-Haq","doi":"10.31945/iprij.210203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210203","url":null,"abstract":"Modernization of armed forces is a way to assert national power beyond geographical boundaries. India envisions itself as a regional hegemon. Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has remained close to the hearts and minds of the Indian statesmen. With the growing volume of sea trade, Indian Navy finds greater share in the national security projection. Indian Navy has embarked upon an effective modernization plan to upgrade its combat power. This modernization drive is raising grave security concerns for other littoral countries in the region. Since the Independence, Pakistan has faced the Indian belligerence on all fronts. Conventional asymmetry and actionreaction syndrome largely governs Indo-Pak Naval relationship. Indian Maritime Doctrine encourages Indian Navy to pursue offensive actions to dictate terms of conflict. Indian offensive actions are adversely impacting strategic stability in the region. This paper endeavors to examine the impact of Indian Naval modernization on Pakistan and gives suggestions about the challenges and opportunities for Pakistan.","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46601915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2021-06-30DOI: 10.31945/iprij.210105
Moonis Ahmar
{"title":"The Challenge of Regional Connectivity in Central, South and West Asia","authors":"Moonis Ahmar","doi":"10.31945/iprij.210105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210105","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41496247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2021-06-30DOI: 10.31945/iprij.210102
Muhammad Zubair Mumtaz, Z. Smith
{"title":"Impact of Corruption on Economic Growth: Evidence from Asian Countries","authors":"Muhammad Zubair Mumtaz, Z. Smith","doi":"10.31945/iprij.210102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210102","url":null,"abstract":"Previous literature argues that corruption hampers economic performance. Moreover, there is limited literature available on the interaction between corruption, government spending, and its effect on the overall economic taxonomy in Asia. This study employs the use of various classifications of government expenses and then analyses their impact on economic performance using different measures of corruption. The findings provide evidence that corruption has an inverse effect on military spending but concurrently it has an indirect and negative impact on economic activity within a country. This study also contrasts the findings of corruption and economic growth in Asian and African countries reporting that a higher level of corruption is deterring economic growth for Asian economies. The policy implications suggest that the association between corruption and economic growth is worsening in countries that utilise excessive government expenditures. Hence it is imperative that states monitor their government spending more closely to eliminate the corrupt practices.","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45699127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2021-06-30DOI: 10.31945/iprij.210104
M. Butt, Yen-Chiang Chang, Khadija Zulfiqar
{"title":"A Comparative Analysis of the Environmental Policies in China and Pakistan: Developing a Legal Regime for Sustainable China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)","authors":"M. Butt, Yen-Chiang Chang, Khadija Zulfiqar","doi":"10.31945/iprij.210104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210104","url":null,"abstract":"Recent studies reflect that the legal regime of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is one of the crucial gateways of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is somehow replete with multiple environmental perplexities. Environmental quandary is expected in the BRI's development projects. This turns it into a main reason behind a recent shift in China's environmental policies owing to international commitments. The broader prospects involved offer a larger role in the international organisations. In accordance with the global environmental policy transformation, China integrates climate change as a new science with terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In the development of CPEC projects, there are lessons to be learnt by Pakistan also. It needs to integrate its environmental policies to refine its international status and maintain itself as a sustainable and principal partner of China's BRI. This study explores the inadequacies in * M. Jahanzeb Butt is a PhD Scholar, School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, China. ** Yen Chiang Chang is Professor of International Law, School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, China. ***Khadija Zulfiqar is a PhD Scholar, School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, China. ___________________ @2021 by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. IPRI Journal XXI (1): 83-122 https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210104 M Jahanzeb Butt, Yen Chiang Chang & Khadija Zulfiqar 2 IPRI JOURNAL 2021 Pakistan's existing environmental policy while comparing it with the Chinese counterpart, and Chinese environmental policy shift, which is being implemented on CPEC and BRI projects.","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46581443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2021-06-30DOI: 10.31945/iprij.210103
A. Sultan, Itfa Khursheed
{"title":"Hypersonic Weapons in South Asia: Implications for Strategic Stability","authors":"A. Sultan, Itfa Khursheed","doi":"10.31945/iprij.210103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210103","url":null,"abstract":"The development of new technologies and their use for military means has narrowed the gap between the technologically advanced and less developed countries. This may have disturbed the traditional balance of power with greater prospects of conflict between states with asymmetric military potential, besides increasing the risks of conventional and nuclear entanglement. The dangers are more pronounced in South Asia where growing conventional disparity coupled with new war fighting doctrines continue to strain strategic stability, thus making it imperative for the other side to strengthen its ‘cross domain’ deterrence posture. India’s recent test of Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV), which apparently aims to build its credentials of a technologically advanced country; once operationalised, would proffer an option of a preemptive conventional counterforce strike against Pakistan’s short range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) – to deter Pakistan from the early deployment of its SRBMs and to create space for India’s limited war fighting doctrine of ‘Cold Start.’ In response, Pakistan is likely to develop countermeasures that could ensure the integrity of its Full Spectrum Deterrence (FSD) posture. This action-reaction syndrome could trigger a new arms race with increased risks of miscalculation in a future military crisis between the two nuclear armed states. This paper aims to discuss * Dr Adil Sultan is a Director Nuclear and Strategic Affairs at Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS) **Ms Itfa Khursheed is a researcher at CASS, Islamabad _____________________ @2021 by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. IPRI Journal XXI (1): 61-81 https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.210103 Dr. Adil Sultan and Itfa Khursheed 2 IPRI JOURNAL 2021 the ongoing global developments in the field of hypersonic weapons; its implications for strategic stability in South Asia; and Pakistan’s likely","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41587994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2020-12-31DOI: 10.31945/iprij.20002
Murad Ali
{"title":"China’s Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia and beyond: Apprehensions, Risks and Opportunities","authors":"Murad Ali","doi":"10.31945/iprij.20002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.20002","url":null,"abstract":"Since its official launching in 2013, China’s transcontinental Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has remained under significant focus in media, policy think-tanks and academia around the world. While some countries view China as a major development partner under the BRI, others are apprehensive of the rising role of Beijing. Drawing on policy documents, reports of national and international organizations and available literature on the subject, this paper aims at unpacking two main aspects of the BRI; the socio-economic prospects as well as geopolitical implications of the BRI for major South Asian countries where China is emerging as an important development actor. Second, response of the major global powers and actors in Europe, Africa and Central Asia, such as, key South Asian countries Pakistan and India. Their key expectations as well as reservations are also of major concern. The paper argues that unprecedented Chinese investment under the BRI in these regions has not only huge socio-economic potentials but it also has geopolitical and security implications (as in the case of Pakistan-India relations in South Asia). The paper concludes that for harvesting true potential of the BRI through new vistas of trade and connectivity for participating nations, China should work more closely with countries having antagonistic stance towards the BRI and should take measures to ensure international norms and inclusiveness of the initiative.","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45772579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2020-12-31DOI: 10.31945/iprij.200201
A. Abbasi
{"title":"Hybrid War Threats and Essence of Perception Management: Challenges for Pakistan","authors":"A. Abbasi","doi":"10.31945/iprij.200201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.200201","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46681497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IPRI JournalPub Date : 2020-12-31DOI: 10.31945/iprij.200205
S. Ullah
{"title":"Arms Control in Crisis: An Assessment of Contemporary Trends","authors":"S. Ullah","doi":"10.31945/iprij.200205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31945/iprij.200205","url":null,"abstract":"Arms control regime has witnessed severe setbacks in recent years. This paper addresses the question that despite acknowledged benefits of arms control for peace and stability, the major powers are currently turning against arms control. By analyzing the reasons behind ongoing arms control crisis, the paper takes into account contending perspectives of major powers to map the emerging trends in arms control. The mere existence of nuclear weapons does not encourage the states to adopt restraint measures, rather it is their perception about the risks and challenges to their security that compel them to go for arms control. The ongoing geo-political competition, also exhibited in the form of strategic rivalries at global level, and advanced military-technological developments sans any consensus on mutual vulnerabilities shape the understanding of nuclear armed states for strategic stability. These are the two primary drivers behind the evolving arms control crisis. Recently, United States has veered away from its bilateral commitments that signifies the collapse of arms control arrangements between Washington and Moscow which originally served as a stabilizing factor in their adversarial relations. Prevailing disagreements on the constituents of strategic stability, concerns about other state’s compliance and transparency, and accentuating differences in military capabilities are the defining features of how major states currently pursue arms control. In the absence of consensus on what threatens strategic stability among adversaries, any prospects for new arms control measures remain bleak. This factor also diminishes the prospects of any trilateral arms control agreement among U.S., Russia and China.","PeriodicalId":41363,"journal":{"name":"IPRI Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49387017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}