The global scholarly community concerned with development and social transformation has identified explicit "structural impediments" that constrain countries’ efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development. The UNDP, in launching its Millennium Development Goals, contends that there are practical, proven solutions to breaking out of the poverty traps that entangle poor countries. In Pakistan, there has been limited substantive research conducted to identify the unique blend of structural impediments to development that prevail in the country today. Indeed, Pakistan’s prospects to promote viable, sustainable social development appear bleaker today than a decade ago. Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan seeks to rectify this void by bringing together scholars and practitioners—many of them from Pakistan—to provide a scholarly understanding of the structural impediments, or barriers, that have negative effects on Pakistan’s ability to eliminate poverty, promote social justice and implement policies to promote equity. This book will be an essential tool for analysis, study and practice. Its publication is indeed a major event in South Asian scholarship.

From the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan in 2001 to the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2014, Pakistan's military cooperation was critical to the United States. Yet Pakistani politics remain a source of anxiety for American policymakers. Despite some progress toward democratic consolidation over the last ten years, Pakistan's military still asserts power over the country's elected government. Pakistan's western regions remain largely ungoverned and home to the last remnants of al-Qaeda's original leadership as well as multiple militant groups that have declared war on the Pakistani state. The country's economy is in shambles, and continuing tensions with India endanger efforts to bring a durable peace to a region haunted by the distant threat of nuclear war. Pakistan's Enduring Challenges surveys the political and economic landscape of Pakistan in the wake of U.S. military withdrawal. Experts in the domestic and international affairs of the region consider the country's prospects from a variety of angles, including security issues and nuclear posture, relations with Afghanistan, India, and the United States, Pakistan's Islamist movements, and the CIA's use of drone warfare in Pakistan's tribal areas. This timely volume offers a concise, accessible, and expert guide to the currents that will shape the country's future. Contributors: Christopher Clary, C. Christine Fair, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Karl Kaltenthaler, Feisal Khan, William J. Miller, Aparna Pande, Paul Staniland, Stephen Tankel, Tara Vassefi, Sarah J. Watson, Joshua T. White, Huma Yusef.

This book is the main text for post-graduate courses on South Asia's development, economic history and on its political economy. For researchers on Pakistan's economy, it is the key source for reference, and covers a huge and diverse array of data, literature reviews, commentary and analysis.

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.

Pakistan’s development efforts are guided by its 2011 Framework for Economic Growth, which identifies actions needed to create a prosperous, industrialized Pakistan through rapid and sustainable development. Industrialization has the potential to drive Pakistan’s economic growth and contribute significantly to meeting both economic and human development goals in Pakistan. Expansions of industrialization activities, whether in highly developed or developing countries, can be stimuli for intense debate about such projects’ benefits and costs to the region in which they are to be located, to the national economy—and to human health and the environment. Pakistan’s 2011 Framework for Economic Growth recognizes that, to accelerate industrialization, Pakistan must reduce the cost of doing business and create an incentive structure designed to achieve a competitive, dynamic, and export-driven industrial sector capable of providing employment to the growing labor force. Competing in global markets requires a socially and environmentally sustainable industrialization strategy. The four main inputs for sustainable industrial growth in Pakistan discussed in this book are 1) Macroeconomic stability and sectoral policies to support industrial competitiveness by allowing long-term planning, including investments in infrastructure and cleaner production. 2) Upgraded trade facilitation and infrastructure (particularly transport and energy) to address some of industrialization’s spatial aspects. Improved transport infrastructure will lower production’s environmental costs. 3) Greening of Pakistan’s industrial sector to enhance international competitiveness—“greening” will make Pakistan a more attractive export partner for nations and firms committed to green production. 4) Strong institutions—for example, environmental management agencies to control pollution, and cleaner production centers to increase domestic awareness of international environmental standards—to implement industrialization initiatives effectively, including those for small and medium-sized enterprises. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of issues relating to the debate about Pakistan’s green industrial growth and lays out priorities and strategies for “greening” Pakistan’s industrial growth.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.