Yunas Samad presents paper on Pakistan-US Relations

presented a paper on Pakistan-US Relations: Continuity and Change in Pakistan at the Conference on Civilian Ascent To Power? Pakistan, St Antony's College, Oxford 10-12 May 2014. He identified areas of continuity in the relationship and areas of friction.

Overall the international conference looked at the possible opportunities that may arise out of the multiple crises that Pakistan currently faces. During proceedings and presentations, the 27 speakers — including those from Pakistan, the US, Germany, Canada and the UK — dilated on the security, economy, sociology and foreign relations of Pakistan.

Much of the talk centred around the crisis of governance, insecurity, energy issues, ethnic and nationalistic conflicts and Pakistan’s policy discord with India, the US and its skewed policy towards Afghanistan.

Zurich Conference

Prof Yunas Samad was co-covenor of Elections and Democratic Transition in South Asia at European Conference on South Asian Studies, Zurich, July 2014. The panel gathered theoretically grounded perspectives on electoral politics and democratisation in different countries in South Asia focusing on (but not restricted to) electoral campaigns, voting behaviour and government-formation. Prof. Samad presented a paper on Democratization Theory and Elections in Pakistan locating Pakistan transition within theories of hybrid states identifying the positive aspect of the transition and areas of potential roadblock.