APF is hosting a book talk on Pakistan's Political Parties. One of the book's co-editors Mariam Mufti, and two contributing authors, Sarah Khan and Christopher Clary, will discuss the political landscape and nature of democracy in Pakistan. The speakers will be in conversation with Shamila Chaudhary, President of the American Pakistan Foundation.
About the book:
“Pakistan’s Political Parties examines how the civilian side of the state's current regime has survived the transition to democracy, providing critical insight into the evolution of political parties in Pakistan and their role in developing democracies in general. Pakistan's numerous political parties span the ideological spectrum, as well as represent diverse regional, ethnic, and religious constituencies. The essays in this volume explore the way in which these parties both contend and work with Pakistan's military-bureaucratic establishment to assert and expand their power. Researchers use interviews, surveys, data, and ethnography to illuminate the internal dynamics and motivations of these groups and the mechanisms through which they create policy and influence state and society."
Speakers:
Mariam Mufti is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She studies the politics of hybrid regimes, with a particular focus on the role of the military, political parties, and identity in the processes of recruitment and selection of the political elite in Pakistan. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Comparative Politics, Politics and Governance and Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy and co-edited the volume on Pakistan’s Political Parties: Surviving between Democracy and Dictatorship. She has authored monographs on democratic development, political parties and religious extremism for The Asia Foundation, Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) and Department for International Development (DFID). In keeping with her interest in undemocratic, hybrid regimes, she has also appeared in a 6-part series The Dictator’s Playbook on PBS (released in 2018). She has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University.
Sarah Khan is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at Yale University. She completed her Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University, and was previously a doctoral candidate fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. She is currently an affiliated researcher with the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives in Lahore, Pakistan. Her research interests lie at the intersection of gender and comparative politics, with a regional specialization in South Asia. In her work, she studies gender gaps in political preferences, patterns of preference expression, and the barriers to women’s political participation and representation.
Christopher Clary is an assistant professor of political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York and a Nonresident Fellow with the Stimson Center’s South Asia program. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of nuclear proliferation, U.S. defense policy, and the politics of South Asia. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University (2015-2016), and a predoctoral fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Clary also served as country director for South Asian affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (2006–2009). He received his PhD in Political Science from MIT, an MA in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a BA in History and International Studies from Wichita State University.
Shamila N. Chaudhary was appointed President of the American Pakistan Foundation in August 2019. Chaudhary is a foreign policy analyst specializing in South Asia. Her work is regularly cited and published in Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, the New York Times and she has frequently appeared on CNN, BBC News America, NPR, Fox News, and other outlets. She served 12 years in the Bush and Obama administrations, including at the White House as Director for Pakistan and Afghanistan on the National Security Council and on the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where she advised Secretary Clinton and the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on Afghanistan and Pakistan.