This book analyses Pakistan's foreign policy and external relations with a focus on contemporary developments, including the impact of the new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the powerful military, and the "middle power" status. Structured in two parts - Foundation and Operationalization - the book provides a broad overview of Pakistan's foreign policy and addresses specific foreign policy choices. Contributor's explore issues such as Pakistan's middle power status from a theoretical perspective, Imran Khan's foreign policy, Pakistan's relations with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the EU, and Pakistan's evolving Indian Ocean strategy. Based on in-depth interviews with Pakistani scholars, politicians, and diplomats, the book offers a timely perspective on Pakistan's foreign policy. The book will be of interest to academics working on Pakistan, South Asian Politics, Security and Conflict Studies, International Relations and Foreign Policy, and Asian Studies.

This book analyses problems of governance, development and environment affecting contemporary Pakistan; issues that lie at the centre of federal and provincial policy deliberations, formulation and implementation. The book offers a comprehensive assessment of the policies, or lack thereof. Authors from a variety of disciplines empirically and conceptually evaluate latest developments, events and data regarding law and order, economic under-performance, social intolerance and climate crisis. The book offers varied perspectives on state sovereignty, civil-military relations, spousal violence, rural development, CPEC, nuclear governance and transboundary climate risk. Arguing that the conclusions should be adopted by the social, political and economic stakeholders of Pakistan, as well as the region at the higher level of governability, the book demonstrates that it would both boost national morale and inspire individuals to further investigate to come up with innovative solutions. Examining some of the most pressing and persistent problems Pakistan and South Asia is facing, the book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of Political Science, in particular South Asian Politics, Development Studies and Environmental Studies.

This book analyses problems of governance, development and environment affecting contemporary Pakistan; issues that lie at the centre of federal and provincial policy deliberations, formulation and implementation. The book offers a comprehensive assessment of the policies, or lack thereof. Authors from a variety of disciplines empirically and conceptually evaluate latest developments, events and data regarding law and order, economic under-performance, social intolerance and climate crisis. The book offers varied perspectives on state sovereignty, civil-military relations, spousal violence, rural development, CPEC, nuclear governance and transboundary climate risk. Arguing that the conclusions should be adopted by the social, political and economic stakeholders of Pakistan, as well as the region at the higher level of governability, the book demonstrates that it would both boost national morale and inspire individuals to further investigate to come up with innovative solutions. Examining some of the most pressing and persistent problems Pakistan and South Asia is facing, the book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of Political Science, in particular South Asian Politics, Development Studies and Environmental Studies.

This book aims to analyze two contrasting trends of integration and rivalry among great powers and regional states of Himalaya. It examines the interactions between the great powers and the small states in the Himalayan region, analyzes the multiple effects of the great power rivalry on the regional cooperation, and predicts the possible directions of the future of the geo-politics and geo-economy in the Himalayan region by incorporating the most recent developments. The main content of the book is divided into 11 parts. The Introduction briefly explains the aims and scope of this book. The following chapter focuses on the Buddhist ties between China and the Himalayan states in the past two millennia and its dual influence in the Himalayan region. The rest 9 chapters provide an in-depth analyses of the security dilemma between China and India, Indian perspectives on China-South Asian relations, Chinese perspectives on U.S. and Japan's engagement with South Asia and Indo-Myanmar relations, and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal's responses to the regional integration and great power rivalry in the Himalayan region respectively. This is the first study which brings the Himalaya region at the center of geopolitical and geo-economics cooperation and rivalry thus highlighting its significance in Asian politics. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the complicated geo-political and geo-economic competition in the Himalayan region by inviting experts from both South Asia and China to contribute chapters. It also balances the west-centered views on the great power rivalry by introducing cultural perspective and small state perspective. The broad approach adopted in the book with focus on all important countries expands the scope of readership beyond specific academic community. The book will interest academics, policy makers, journalists, general reader and students of Asian politics.

This book aims to analyze two contrasting trends of integration and rivalry among great powers and regional states of Himalaya. It examines the interactions between the great powers and the small states in the Himalayan region, analyzes the multiple effects of the great power rivalry on the regional cooperation, and predicts the possible directions of the future of the geo-politics and geo-economy in the Himalayan region by incorporating the most recent developments. The main content of the book is divided into 11 parts. The Introduction briefly explains the aims and scope of this book. The following chapter focuses on the Buddhist ties between China and the Himalayan states in the past two millennia and its dual influence in the Himalayan region. The rest 9 chapters provide an in-depth analyses of the security dilemma between China and India, Indian perspectives on China-South Asian relations, Chinese perspectives on U.S. and Japan's engagement with South Asia and Indo-Myanmar relations, and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal's responses to the regional integration and great power rivalry in the Himalayan region respectively. This is the first study which brings the Himalaya region at the center of geopolitical and geo-economics cooperation and rivalry thus highlighting its significance in Asian politics. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the complicated geo-political and geo-economic competition in the Himalayan region by inviting experts from both South Asia and China to contribute chapters. It also balances the west-centered views on the great power rivalry by introducing cultural perspective and small state perspective. The broad approach adopted in the book with focus on all important countries expands the scope of readership beyond specific academic community. The book will interest academics, policy makers, journalists, general reader and students of Asian politics.

This is an ethnographic study that focuses on the shrine of Sayedi Mossani with specific interest in the symbolic healing practiced at the shrine. This shrine is famous for surgery through dreams and is mostly visited by people who suffered of chronic illness and diseases for years. Dream provide the medium where by the dead saint visited the patients and transformed them from the state of illness to the state of the health. Dreams and their interpretation is dominant medium of therapy at the shrine.Dreams which are interpreted by the Fakirs of the saint at the Mazar help the patients to develop alternative narrative or life stories and help them to externalize their problem. Dream therapy in this instance is not bent on curing a disease but directed toward an alternative narrative of healing that hammers out new and viable way of articulating self and the world. So that the therapeutic encounter and the wary intimate healing relationship with the divine doctors, Sayedi Mossani, is the source of empowerment and transformation.

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between market structure and performance in the banking sector using data from Pakistani commercial banks. Investigating the effect of changes in the market structure on profitability is based on the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) and efficient-structure (E-S) hypotheses. Researcher has taken a sample of 20 scheduled commercial banks incorporated in Pakistan to examine the above hypotheses, using the annual and panel data for a period of 9 years from year 1996-2004. Three measures of bank's performance are utilized i.e. return on assets (ROA), return on capital (ROC) and return on equity (ROE). Concentration ratio (CR) has been used to measure structure-conduct-performance (SCP) hypothesis and market share to measure efficient-structure (E-S) hypothesis. Control variables were used to capture market specific characteristics such as bank size, market size, risk to owners, liquidity measure, market risk, and market growth as well.

Since the end of the Cold War, the new Chinese leadership generation has had to promulgate new guiding principles for handling global diplomacy which acknowledges China's new position. Given the dramatic changes in the international system and its domestic economic success for the growing "China's rise" idea on the global stage, China in the 21st century faces a mixture of old and new challenges, including terrorism, hegemonism, and authoritarianism. While Deng Xiaooping combined Taoism, an ancient Chinese philosophy, into "Taoist diplomacy" in response to the hostile international position after the Tiananmen Incident, China's foreign policy keeps changing, and the multidimensional diplomacy adopted by China can be seen as a consistent theme in Chinese foreign policy in the 21st century. Multidimensional Diplomacy of Contemporary China attempts to examine the origins, guiding principles and sequential outcomes of China's multidimensional diplomacy in the 21st century, working under the flag of "peaceful development," "harmonious international order," and "global responsibility." The contributions are grouped into three sections. The first discusses the theoretical foundations of multidimensional diplomacy. The second section turns the analytical focus to China's immediate neighbors in East Asia, and at last the book will go beyond the immediate neighborhood of China to the global community. These essays explore China's dealings with the countries of Africa, the Gulf, and the South Pacific and provide other in-depth analyses on China's foreign policy towards Pakistan, Russia, and Japan. This book seeks to significantly shape the knowledge and thinking about China's global interactions in the 21st century.