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7 April 2015

Global machismo and dynamics of foreign policy

Bina Shah
Apr 7 2015 

Pakistan must rewrite its social contract, which at the moment serves to only cement the existing hierarchies of its tribal underpinnings. Pakistan’s foreign policy is imbued with machismo, with its need to rattle sabres.

IN Husain Haqqani's recent column in the Dawn, the former ambassador to the US outlined how Pakistan's foreign policy paradigm is now outdated, given the recent American tilt towards India.

“Instead of breeding competition with India in the national psyche, we must focus on addressing institutional weaknesses, eliminating terrorism, improving infrastructure, and modernising the economy.” His succinct phrasing crystallised an opinion I have been formulating for some time: that Pakistan's foreign policy doesn't work because our national psyche is based on pure machismo.

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