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What does globalization mean for nationalism?

By Ahsan Butt Mon, May 07, 2012 12:57AM UTC View Comments

There was an interesting comment on my last post by a reader named Omar, which posited the hypothesis that globalization and the increasing inter-connectedness of people(s) through technology spells doom (or at least trouble) for nationalism. This is a fairly popular view amongst certain people but I disagree with it completely, and I think it’s...

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The usefulness of nationalism to states

By Ahsan Butt Wed, May 02, 2012 5:44AM UTC View Comments

Here’s an excerpt from a really great essay by Eric Hobsbawm titled “Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870-1914″ in an edited volume titled The Invention of Tradition. In this essay, Hobsbawm focuses on the instrumental uses of “tradition”; that is, how leaders birthed traditions and symbols (such as flags, national anthems, and statues of leaders) for the...

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Three thoughts on the Indo-Pak peace process

By Ahsan Butt Wed, Apr 11, 2012 2:38AM UTC View Comments

1. Yes, things are moving slowly. But that does not mean real, verifiable progress is not being made, particularly on trade and visas. If people think two years of stop-start talks are going to yield demonstrable results on territorial issues like Siachen or the big issues like Mumbai or Kashmir, they’re nuts (or they’ve been...

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The NYT in 1932: Hitler should have fewer restrictions, more power

By Ahsan Butt Sat, Feb 18, 2012 6:57AM UTC View Comments

I was doing some archival work and came across this gem of an editorial titled “Berlin Lion Taming” from the New York Times on November 23, 1932....

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Pakistan’s foreign policy is too narrowly focused

By Ahsan Butt Wed, Feb 08, 2012 5:40AM UTC View Comments

One thing that bothers me about how Pakistan conducts its foreign policy is how narrowly it is focused on a few states. The four horsemen of Pakistan’s foreign policy are: the U.S., China, Saudi Arabia, and India. These states take an overwhelming and disproportionate level of our government’s interest, time, money, effort. Almost everything we...

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