terrorism. Traditionalrelationships that provide careand support in distress, bothwithin and outside the family,form the social fabric of suchresilience. Adherence to religioustraditions that nurture peace andtolerance must be underscored asa social bulwark against risingmilitancy and religiousaggression. Our knowledge ofwhat makes a society resilient canempower us to better respond tothe multi-faceted crisis facingPakistan today. Culture, morespecifically collective imaginaries,are one of the many factors thatwe should seek to investigate as asource – or lack thereof. Pakistan:Beyond the Crisis State is a timelywake up call for politicians andpolicymakers to transform ourcounty into a stable moderndemocracy — that is, before theresilience and optimism of mostPakistanis runs out. !

With an impressive career in academia, journalism anddiplomacy, Maleeha Lodhi renews her commitment to reformPakistan through her editorial debut, Pakistan: Beyond The

Crisis State, reflective in her selection of themes such as governance,foreign policy, security, economic and human development — all ofwhich require urgent public attention. Her excellent choice ofcontributors qualified to respond to the challenges facing Pakistantoday allows this book to delve into historical context.

Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State carries a wide range of theoreticalcontributions from distinguished professors (Ayesha Jalal, SaeedShafqat, Ishrat Husain and Riffat Hussain), eminent journalists andwriters (Ahmed Rashid, Shuja Nawaz and Zahid Hussain),entrepreneurs (Meekal Ahmed and Mudassar Malik) and diplomats-cum-scholars (Akbar S Ahmed, Lodhi and Munir Akram) among others.

Published at a time when Pakistan is suffering its worst crisisthreatening its very existence as a sovereign state, this volume goes along way in correcting the country’s image as a failing state. It lists andexplores several reasons for optimism. For one, it argues that themilitary’s hegemony over politics and national life is waning. Asexpounded by Nawaz and Shafqat, increased social and economicmobility is leading to national consensus on civilian supremacy. AuthorMohsin Hamid hinges his optimism for a shinning, rising Pakistan on abroad-based ownership of the state by tax-paying citizens.

Other experts suggest there are solutions and methods to revertthe country on the path of economic progress and nationalprosperity. For instance, Meekal Ahmed recommends a regimechange in economic policy-making, Ishrat Husain insists on theretooling of institutions of economic governance, and Lodhi calls foranalysing and addressing the polity’s fault lines.

Akram, with his wide-ranging experience in diplomacy, explores thequestion of Pakistan’s increasing marginalisation within regional andglobal circuits of power. Together with Riffat Hussain and Rashid, hestrongly believes that this marginalisation can only be countered bymaking peace with regional and international powers. Through itsexplorations into Pakistan’s potential for private sector investments andthe policies that can address the energy deficit, the book inspirestheoretical optimism that a turnaround is possible if there is strongpolitical will for bold reforms.

Some contributors, however, do not present a detailed argument infavour of corrective measures suggested even when their prognosis ofthe deepening crisis is incisive. Similarly, a cultural basis for societalresilience through these apocalyptic times has not been mentioned in thecollection. Even those who offer extensive empirical information on theresilience of the business sector and the economy that shows positiveoutcomes regardless of its high-risk status omit a more nuanced analysisof how resilience can be studied, and strengthened through state-ledpublic policy intervention.

Pakistan’s resilience is found within its citizens and communities, notin institutions. Defined as the capacity to absorb societal disturbances,resilience finds its primary expression in cultural and economicpractices that are critical for the normal functioning of society in theface of poverty, corruption, inequity, social turmoil, economic crisis and

By Dr Nadeem Omar Tarar

Relying on resilience

Pakistan: Beyond TheCrisis State

Edited by Maleeha LodhiOxford University Press

Karachi, 2011Price: 895 rupees

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The H

erald, June2011