by. Dr Ejaz Hussain

In today’s postmodern age, thinking individuals, nations and states are extra conscious about their ‘identity’. Constructs and concepts such as ethnicity, cultural homogeneity, religious fraternity and political values are cited and adhered to in the modern western world. Such trends and debates may also be traced from the Asian, if not African, context. Importantly, the […]

Human beings are a complex mix of biological, emotional, psychological and moral makeup. These inherent forces are often at war with each over. The passion for power (maximisation) has remained a driving force behind almost all limited or all-out wars. Ironically, however, the same warring humans have cooperated among themselves often in the immediate post-war […]

There is an abundance of literature on civil-military relations in general and military intervention in particular. The majority of existing works, in my view, are society-oriented whereby the military is not viewed as a different institution. Rather, it is assumed as part and parcel of a given society. Hence, it is not considered immune from […]

Post-colonial states are conceptually grounded by (de-)colonising authorities in the concept of territorial sovereignty — the latter is inclusive of non-land dimensions of state organisation. It is quite interesting to note that the majority of Muslim-majority post-colonial states developed serious issues, both ideological and practical, with denominations of the nation-state as well as the (de-)colonisers. […]

The discourse on identity, or lack of it, has been spurred by the forces of globalisation almost all over the world. Nevertheless, as an academic subject of investigation, emphasis on culture (studies) is more visible, both institutionally and socially, in the Scandinavian context. Norway, Denmark and Sweden — where I happened to live for a […]

The other day, I incidentally read a news report that argued that Pervez Musharraf could not be put on trial under Article six of the 1973 constitution since the latter was adopted by the remaining part of an assembly (parliament) elected in a united Pakistan in 1970. Since Pakistan was bifurcated in December 1971, the […]

Bangladesh has recently gone through yet another turbulent phase in its struggle towards political stability and rule of law. The recent rupture in its body politic characterises serious societal, institutional and somewhat structural division across ideological (nationalists versus secessionists), religious (moderates versus Islamists) and economic (poor versus elite) lines. This lingering phenomenon surfaced early last […]