When a state confronts political dissent, the response often reveals more about its character than its constitutional promises. Pakistan’s treatment of the Baloch movement offers […]
The New Grammar of Repression: Reading Contemporary Authoritarianism through Baloch Movement in Pakistan
When a state confronts political dissent, the response often reveals more about its character than its constitutional promises. Pakistan’s treatment of the Baloch movement offers a particularly revealing example of how contemporary states manage political opposition. Should one judge a state by the democratic values it proclaims, or by the practices through which it governs? The latter offers a far more reliable measure. From Disappearances to Criminalisation Authoritarian states have never tolerated political opposition. Whether in Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union or Pinochet’s Chile, the objective remained consistent: neutralise those who challenged the state’s authority. What has changed over time is not the objective but the repertoire of techniques through which it is pursued. Earlier regimes often relied on spectacular…
The New Grammar of Repression: Reading Contemporary Authoritarianism through Baloch Movement in Pakistan
When a state confronts political dissent, the response often reveals…
Review of Zeynep Özgen’s Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamic Movement in Turkey
Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamic Movement in TurkeyZeynep…
Strategic Transactionalism: Russia’s Post-Assad Playbook in the Middle East
For most of 2025, Western capitals perceived that Russia’s position…
Why India and Iran Cannot Afford to Drift Apart
The war that has convulsed West Asia since February has…
Legacy of Leadership: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Gulf’s New Horizon
The former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al…
Review of Zeynep Özgen’s Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamic Movement in Turkey
The book “Pious Politics” by Zeynep Özgen discusses the rise of the Islamist movement through a popular and well-organised development in Turkey over decades that […]
Strategic Transactionalism: Russia’s Post-Assad Playbook in the Middle East
For most of 2025, Western capitals perceived that Russia’s position in the Middle East was in terminal decline. The fall of Bashar al-Assad in December […]
Why India and Iran Cannot Afford to Drift Apart
The war that has convulsed West Asia since February has tested every regional relationship, but few as quietly and as consequentially as the one between […]
Legacy of Leadership: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Gulf’s New Horizon
The former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, whose 18-year rule from 1995 to 2013 transformed a marginal Gulf Sheikhdom into an […]
Review of “Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History”
At times when Iran’s resistance is beleaguered, Vali Nasr’s book, “The Grand Strategy of Iran: A Political History”, traces the long-term strategic logic centred on […]
European Security Architecture after Ukraine: Between NATO Dependence and Strategic Autonomy
The contemporary European security architecture is undergoing a significant systemic reordering since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. For nearly three decades, the […]
The Colour was Red: A Whisper of Hope, Love and Shared Silence
Review of Mahbod Seraji’s Rooftops of Tehran It was the long summer of restlessness, the youthness asking to colour the clapped mountains in red. Verses […]
Iran After the War: Between National Cohesion and Political Reform
The second war against Iran imposed by the United States and Israel in less than a year is a critical juncture in the Islamic Republic’s […]
Beyond Regional War: Ukraine’s Conflict as Catalyst of Russia’s Global Repositioning
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February of 2022, it was seen as one of the biggest geopolitical shocks to the existing international order in […]