Asia Society and Museum (Venue Partner)
725 Park Avenue
212.288.6400
This event has passed.
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Making Sense of Pakistan by Farzana Shaikh (Columbia University Press, 2009).
- When
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Wednesday Nov 18, 2009 (6:30–8pm)
- Where
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Directions: Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4 to Madison & 70th; M101, M102 to Lexington & 70th; M30 to Park & 72nd; M66 to Park & 68th OR Subway: #6 to 68th St.
- Price
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$10 Asia Society members; $15 nonmembers
- Links
Pakistan's transformation from a country once projected as a model of Muslim enlightenment to a state faced with a lethal Islamist challenge has dominated headlines in recent years. In her new book, Making Sense of Pakistan, Farzana Shaikh (Asia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs [Chatham House] in London) argues that while the failure of governance and the damage wrought by external powers have hastened this decline, Pakistan's problems are rooted primarily in its uncertain foundations as a nation and its ambiguous relation to Islam. Both have heightened the contestation over the meaning of Pakistan and the significance of "being Pakistani." This enduring ideological confusion has also thwarted a stable constitutional settlement, undermined the country's economic future and encouraged a new and dangerous symbiosis between the armed forces and militant groups. Together they have left Pakistan prey to the forces of extremism that today threaten international stability.
Policy programs at the Asia Society are generously supported by the Nicholas Platt Endowment for Public Policy.
