Asim Imdad Ali

Five hundred years ago, Emperor Humayun was a sovereign on the run, with his dynasty's future hanging by a thread. At that precarious juncture,...

These much-hyped digital “soldiers” are primed to fervently believe in any bizarre conspiracy theory that emerges in the digital space. They generate all fire and...

Part 1 ...Given our unbroken streak of no revolutions since Harappa, four reasons suggest that the future holds little promise for upheaval or radical transformation:...

Going all the way back to the Harappan civilization (circa 2500 BCE), the Indian subcontinent has never experienced a true revolution. This means there...

Disruption, far from being the red signboard of a hazard requiring caution, is now the zeitgeist of our times. Whether we look at technology,...

Understanding the true meaning of change with revolts and revolutions. If horizontal change merely reshuffles elite power, vertical change seeks social justice.

The generals, wielding the instruments of conquest and colonialism, laid the foundations for all the ancient expansive states. Assimilation was generously allowed for those willing to surrender their autonomy; the sword dispatched others who had resistance in their minds and tongues.

Even Lee Kuan Yew, often regarded as the global icon of "benevolent" dictatorship, was known to favor and advocate for the creation of a policestate where legal protections were set aside. “Repression…is a habit that grows,” said Lee addressing Singapore’s British chief minister David Marshall in the island’s colonial legislative assembly.

Pakistan emerged in a state of disarray as a "moth-eaten" country. Our inherited colonial state apparatus was geared only for the implementation of two central policies: the maintenance of law and order, and the extraction of surplus resources from our agrarian economy. The colonial state structure that we inherited was thus ill-suited for the formidable task of fostering comprehensive national development. Following the "transfer of power,"

East Asia's remarkable economic development has often been hailed as a miracle. Pakistan also keeps dreaming of attaining comparable levels of growth and progress. A section of our elite argues that the Asian tigers achieved their economic miracles because of the "benevolent" dictators, who steered those countries during their take-off stage.