Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The question of the effect of nuclear weapons possession on the outbreak of war is an issue in much debate. Some scholars argue that nuclear-armed states will exercise extreme caution in their confrontations – given the potential consequences of war – and that such caution makes even conventional war improbable. Other analysts contend that the possession of nuclear weapons provides avenues for both conventional and nuclear war either through escalatory processes from low-level conflicts or through incentives for nuclear preemption in severe crises. The issue of future war between India and Pakistan largely turns on the impact that nuclear weapons possession will have on the conflict interaction of these states. Also relevant to the question of future war between India and Pakistan, however, are the structural factors associated with the probability of interstate violence. This study examines the conflict between India and Pakistan from the perspective of those factors that have shown consistent correlation with the onset of war and places these structural forces within the context of nuclear weapons possession and future Indo-Pakistani relations.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between second and third generation migrants and their real or imagined, parental country of origin, with a focus on the conceptions of self, inclusion, rights, and citizenship that inform these identity formations. The unit of analysis is young Scandinavians who have Pakistan as their (grand)parental country of origin, and regularly visit this “ancestral” homeland. The analysis highlights the tremendous pressures which surround transnational identity formations among young Muslims, and the ways in which their return visits become ways of forging ties across multiple local contexts, and channeling social and cultural practices between the country of residence and the country of origin.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: While universal human rights discourse presents itself as a neutral and content-empty tool simply protecting individuals from abuses and suffering, this paper will explore the results of conceptualizing human rights as a regulatory discourse. Following W

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: After Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf became an American ally following the September 11 attacks, the U.S. mainstream magazines framed this dictator as a modern and pro-Western leader. This framing analysis examined the coverage of Musharraf in three newsmagazines - Newsweek, Time and U.S. News & World Report - between September 11, 2001, and February 28, 2002.
The newsmagazines emphasized Musharraf's biographical and personal characteristics that made him different from his nation of "fundamentalists" and closer to the West. Positive sides of Musharraf's dictatorship were emphasized, especially those that yielded to the American interests in the region. The negative effects of Musharraf's rule, especially in the domain of human rights, were either justified or completely omitted from the frame. Findings suggest that the Cold War frame that the U.S. media used in the international coverage in the 1980s recently merged with a "West versus Islam" frame.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Please note that this paper was withdrawn prior to the program deadline by the author.

If you are interested in this topic and would like to read the paper please contact me at kiran.pervez@american.edu