Dr Zia Ul Haque Shamsi

No matter how difficult the situation is, how strong the enemy is, and how adverse the environment is, diplomacy must not give up and must not go to sleep. The beauty of diplomacy lies in its appetite to go the extra mile to achieve its objectives. This short article aims to remind respective states facing […]

In my short article ‘National Interests versus Public Interests’ published in Daily Times, Pakistan, I argued “The states have their interests usually referred to as national interests, however, these interests may or may not always be in sync with the public interests.” However, I restricted my argument to security interests only. But, in this article, […]

There is broad agreement among scholars and professionals that the state continues to function as a singular, unified entity in the current international system, which is outdated and lacks a recognized authority. Every state has at least three fundamental components: population, territory, and a recognised government. The states have their interests usually referred to as […]

As discussed in Part I, the prevalent international environment is too complex and uncertain and will remain so until China and Russia have dethroned the US from the mantle of being the sole superpower of the post-Cold War world. Therefore, my argument is that hybrid solutions to protracted conflicts may be found by the regional […]

The title is expected to draw the attention of academics and the likely demand would be to immediately explain what is rivalism and how can it be compared with an age-old and time-tested international relations theory of realism. Realism stood for power, security, and interests, due to which it has survived in testing times. Realism […]

As discussed in Part I, the prevalent international environment is too complex and uncertain and will remain so until China and Russia have dethroned the US from the mantle of being the sole superpower of the post-Cold War world. Therefore, my argument is that hybrid solutions to protracted conflicts may be found by the regional […]

In an anarchic international system, each state has at least two avenues to ensure development and survival, diplomacy and deterrence (D2). Both these concepts date back to times immemorial. However, each state has differing mechanisms for employing these concepts in different sets of circumstances. I believe that the consequences of the failure of diplomacy and […]

In my last week’s column Rise and Fall of Societies-I, published in Daily Times, Pakistan on June 24, 2024, I highlighted the possible causes of the demise of the golden era of the Islamic society. In Part II, I will make an effort to suggest a way forward to recover from the morass our society […]

Allah Al Mighty has outlined several events of the near and distant past in The Quran about the perished nations who were involved in societal crimes. While the disobedience of the Prophets of Allah was a common reason, the societal crimes also included unethical and unnatural practices and even cheating in measurements. In this short […]