Pakistan

Mashail Malik asks why many voters remain loyal to ethnic parties even when those parties deliver little material welfare. The article argues that loyalty can be driven not only by material incentives but by dignity and recognition: when state agencies dominated by outgroups discriminate against a community, some group members respond with what Malik calls “defiant pride,” making ethnicity a larger part of their self‑concept and increasing demand for descriptive representation.

Niloufer Siddiqui and Asfandyar Mir investigate whether nationalist sentiment makes people more likely to believe conspiracy theories that portray ethnic or religious minorities as subversive collaborators with hostile foreign powers. The paper probes whether different kinds of nationalist messaging — including appeals that emphasize a superordinate, integrated national identity — reduce or exacerbate conspiratorial attitudes toward minorities.

This study asks why so few military regimes pursue nuclear weapons, arguing that domestic priorities within militaries and the need to manage internal political threats make such regimes more likely to invest in conventional forces. Using case evidence from Egypt, Brazil, and Pakistan, the author identifies two domestic sources shaping proliferation behavior: the military organization’s resource distribution preferences and regime survival concerns. The paper tests this argument with comparative case analysis and suggests domestic factors matter alongside external security conditions.

This study investigates the allocation patterns within a long-running federal development fund in Pakistan, specifically examining whether spending adheres to rules-based principles despite political contexts.

Patrick B. Johnston and Anoop K. Sarbahi investigate a central debate in counterterrorism: do US drone strikes in Pakistan provoke “blowback” that increases Islamist terrorism, or do they disrupt violent networks and reduce attacks? The answer matters for U.S. foreign policy, civilian security in Pakistan, and scholarly claims about the political costs and benefits of targeted killings.