International Journal of Policy Studies

COUNTERING CYBER THREATS IN PAKISTAN: A POLITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY POLICY (2021) AND WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY IMPERATIVE

2025-12-31T17:40:59+00:00

Pakistan, with its complex geopolitical environment, faces an evolving threat landscape, where cyber threats have emerged as a critical component. State and state-sponsored cyber attacks, terrorist organizations, and other malicious actors leverage cyber space to achieve strategic, political and social objectives. The existing cyber security policy landscape and infrastructure face critical gaps, including weak inter-agency coordination, limited resources, outdated legal structure, and a lack of technical capacity to ensure a secure cyber space. This study examines the National Cyber Security Policy of Pakistan (2021) through the analytical lens of political security and policy analysis, with particular attention to the Whole-of-Society approach as a normative and strategic imperative. Drawing on policy analysis, this study considers the Policy Cycle Model to assess the degree to which NCSP incorporates threat perception, multi-actor participation, institutional coordination, and resource and capacity deficits. This study finds that while the NCSP articulates a high-level vision for cyber security, the operationalization of inclusive governance and societal engagement remains a major obstacle in achieving a secure cyberspace. By framing cyber resilience as political governance rather than solely a technical or security issue, this research paper advances a policy perspective on cyber threats. This study concludes that cyber resilience can be enhanced through governance-centred policy recommendations that emphasize transparency, inter-agency collaboration, and the mobilization of civic and private stakeholders.

THE ROLE OF REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN INSTITUTIONALIZING PAKISTAN–CENTRAL ASIA CONNECTIVITY

2026-01-02T19:19:19+00:00

This article examines how far regional organisations- SCO, ECO, and EAEU- enable functional cooperation and institutionalise Pakistan–Central Asia connectivity within a neo-functionalist paradigm. Drawing solely on the provided literature, the analysis traces sectoral cooperation (security, trade, transit, and energy) and evaluates whether functional spillovers have produced durable institutionalisation. Findings show that SCO has broadened from security to multi-sectoral cooperation; ECO provides an ambitious but inconsistently implemented economic framework; and EAEU advances geo-economic linkages aligned to Russia’s Greater Eurasian Partnership with selective compatibility to the BRI/CPEC vector. Across cases, progress is mediated by Afghanistan’s instability, capacity gaps, and geopolitical rivalries (notably India-Pakistan), constraining spillovers and formal institutionalisation implication. Regional organisations act as both facilitators and inhibitors: they create agenda-setting platforms and soft rules, but weak supranational authority and political frictions keep integration partial and uneven.

IRAN’S RELATIONS WITH HEZBOLLAH AND EMERGING SECURITY DYNAMICS OF THE REGION

2025-12-31T18:20:40+00:00

This paper examines how Iran has used transnational networks, ideology, and non-state groups to project influence across the Middle East from the 1979 revolution to the post-2025 regional environment. Rather than treating Iran’s actions as sudden or purely revolutionary, the study traces the deep historical roots of Tehran’s outreach to groups such as the Lebanese Shia and Iraqi Kurds during the Pahlavi era. Drawing on academic writings, historical records, and contemporary analyses, the paper discusses how Wilayat al-Faqih shaped Iran’s modern foreign policy, how Hezbollah became a central pillar of Iran’s regional architecture, and how recent conflicts, including the October 2023 Hamas attack and the 2025 Iran Israel war exposed new limitations in Iran’s proxy strategy. The findings suggest that although Iran continues to rely on non-state partners, shifting geopolitical realities are pressuring Tehran to adapt, modernize, and partially decentralize its approach to regional power projection.

RECONFIGURING IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE: NATIONALIST POLITICS IN POST-MUSHARRAF BALOCHISTAN

2026-01-02T18:42:49+00:00

This research paper seeks to provide answers related to Baloch hyper nationalism issues. It will explore the relationship between identity politics, nationalism state coercions. Balochistan is the largest province in terms of area, yet least developed and deprived of basic infrastructure. Keeping this fact in mind, an effort has been made to analyze nationalism and conflict in Pakistan by finding research gaps with respect to the social and economic framework of Baloch nationalism. The marginalization issue has been the prime driver of Hyper nationalism in Baloch. Marginalization and alienation of Balochistan from broader modernization initiatives have increased sentiments of alienation and fostered nationalist ideologies rooted in ethnic identity. Centrifugal ethnic, linguistic, and regional pressures have been strengthened by successive periods of authoritarian control. This is seen in the worsening situation since Musharraf's rule and the Baloch nationalists' conflict with the state, which is being viewed as a form of civil war. Additionally, this paper shows that a state-centric strategy is insufficient. Enhancing the socioeconomic situation and the political culture that goes along with it, as well as the conditions surrounding the Balochistan issue, must also receive attention.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PUBLIC GOVERNANCE IN PAKISTAN

2026-01-18T19:08:58+00:00

This research paper studies the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on public governance in general and Pakistan in specific. This study revolves around the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and its operation model. The present study analyses how the usage of AI can make its work better and efficient. This study helps to design a practically workable model to make it more open to provide better services to promote social inclusion and give citizens more power. The research incorporates Algorithmic Governance Theory (AGT) to illuminate how this system transforms the institutional working framework, impacts decision-making, and its outcomes. The study explains both opportunities and challenges of AI usage in NADRA. It is an acknowledged fact that AI has become a potential system to enhance accountability, financial inclusion, accessibility and innovation. However, it simultaneously suggests concerns related to ethical oversight, data privacy, structural inequality and algorithmic opacity. The present study offers a comprehensive understanding of AI-based governance, especially with reference to developing-states like Pakistan. It helps the institution to utilize policy documents, international frameworks and institutional reports.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

2026-01-18T19:15:42+00:00

Climate Change in The Middle East and North Africa: 15,000 Years of Fragility and Adaptation by William R. Thompson and Leila Zakhirova (Routledge, 2022)

DEMOCRATIC INCENTIVIZATION IN PAKISTAN WITH REFERENCE TO SOCIO-POLITICAL EDUCATION

2026-02-23T17:35:55+00:00

The idea of universal franchise serves as a core fundamental of the modern democratic framework, where each person enjoys their right to vote. But the societies with low political literacy and poor understanding are intellectually misused by religious and political demagogues, resulting in populist governments. Pakistani society faces some additional problems of a traditional feudal and ethnic nature in this regard. This paper aims to address this lacuna and suggests the introduction of incentivization project for voters depending upon their socio-political understandings. Formal education serves as the objective standard for this incentivization scheme. It would result in the rise of literacy rate and political awareness, which would ultimately foster the true democratic values and rational abilities among the people. This is a qualitative study; statements are made after carefully monitoring political developments and taking part in academic and intellectual discussions about the topic, which are mainly supported by public material. The general structure of the study has been formed after a careful analysis of scholarly arguments and news stories. The democratic concept of Universal Franchise is challenged under discussion. Analytical and descriptive approaches are used to explore and portray the main democratic concepts along with the relationships between them. The study relies heavily on secondary sources because gathering empirical data would have been expensive and not possible at all times. Nevertheless, this limitation was ultimately surmounted through deduction and appraisal of the corpus of information as presented in books, official documents, and research articles.