| Title: | 24 : Pakistan: The Road Ahead |
| Author/s: | Ishtiaq Ahmed, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS; Rajshree Jetly, Research Fellow; Iftikhar A. Lodhi, Research Associate at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | This paper probes the direction in which the Pakistani polity can or will move in the immediate period at hand and in the next few years. We examine the challenges and options facing the state, the present government and the economy. |
| Date: | 31 August 2007 |
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| Title: | 23 : Problems on the China Front: Can India be the Next Manufacturing Hub |
| Author/s: | K. V. Ramaswamy, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | China's manufacturing reputation is in trouble. Recently, Mattel, the American toy company, is reported to have recalled more than 400,000 toy cars and 18 million toys worldwide. The China-made and -supplied toys had used lead-based paint and contained small magnets that could prove to be health hazardous and would have serious medical consequences. This was followed by the world famous British toy seller, Hamleys, taking off from its shelves two jewellery products imported from China containing potentially fatal levels of lead |
| Date: | 27 August 2007 |
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| Title: | 22 : Election Prospects in Pakistan |
| Author/s: | Ishtiaq Ahmed, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Elections are expected to be held in Pakistan towards the end of 2007 or early 2008. The current assemblies were elected in 2002. The principle is that the Election Commission should be given three months to organise the elections, which means that after October when the term of the current assemblies is completed new elections can be called anytime between November and January. The Pakistani electoral system is based on the first-past-the-post procedure as prevalent in Britain and India. Several parties take part in elections but the practice of elections and civilian governments is weakly developed in Pakistan. Therefore, it is not certain that elections will be held. |
| Date: | 19 July 2007 |
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| Title: | 21 : Urban Policy Initiatives in the European Union, Beijing-Seoul-Tokyo Cooperation and ASEAN: Perspectives for SAARC Countries |
| Author/s: | Indu Rayadurgam, Research Associate at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The world is urbanizing at par with economic openness and industrialization. In many developing nations, due to the reduction in the contribution of agriculture to the national income and the lack of a strong non-farm sector, the rural-urban migration is on a rise. Cities and towns are becoming major economic, employment generation and revenue earning centres. In many countries, employment generation is generally perceived to be higher in the urban areas and its surrounding localities. Developing countries have adopted many policies to tackle the growing needs for infrastructure (roads, railways, ports, airports among the many). But, with the booming infrastructural requirements and the necessity for efficient management of resources in urban areas, it is very hard for national public sector undertakings alone to be involved in planning and policy. Therefore, cooperation in the form of exchange of ideas and technical expertise between governments and cities will be beneficial, especially when the process of economic, defence and political cooperation between nations is progressing, during the past few decades. |
| Date: | 9 July 2007 |
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| Title: | 20 : Reflections on Monetary Policy |
| Author/s: | D. M. Nachane, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Among economic historians, it is conventional to view the collapse of the Bretton Woods arrangement in the early 1970s as marking a transition from a post World War II Golden Age (of low real interest rates, low levels of sovereign indebtedness, little speculative trading in global financial markets and a high degree of financial stability) to a Leaden Age (characterized by slow growth, high unemployment, severe business cycles and a growing incidence of financial crises). Without necessarily attaching to it any of the pejorative connotations intended by the originator of the term (Mrs. Robinson (1956), and her followers such as Foley (1986) and Pollin (1998)), nor claiming for the term a universal applicability across all countries, Leaden Age could still serve as a succinct and convenient phrase to capture the generally heightened uncertainty surrounding national policy making in the post Bretton Woods scenario. |
| Date: | 3 July 2007 |
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| Title: | 19 : Regional Integration in South Asia: The Era of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement |
| Author/s: | Aparna Shivpuri Singh, Research Associate at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | South Asia accounts for 22 percent of the world's population, two percent of the world's gross national product and is home to about 40 percent of the world's poor. However, the region's seven countries contribute only about one percent to world trade. Combining this low level of economic development with political and ethnic disparities makes this region economically and politically very sensitive. With the ratification of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) in March 2006 by all the member states, the process of liberalising trade and investment has been set in motion. It has been two decades since the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) came into being and even though the process of trade liberalisation has been slow, it has not died. This paper highlights the journey of South Asia from the SAARC to the South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement and now to the SAFTA and draws comparisons between the provisions. It also brings forth the issues that need to be addressed if the South Asian economies want to benefit from this free trade agreement (FTA). The paper argues that South Asia needs to re-look at some fundamental trade and political issues and give precedence to trade if it wants a well-implemented FTA encompassing substantial trade among the member states. |
| Date: | 2 March 2007 |
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| Title: | 18 : Nepal’s Peace Process: Prospects and Hurdles |
| Author/s: | Nishchal N. Pandey, Visiting Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Nepal has been in the news from the past couple of years for all the wrong reasons. A country renowned for being the birthplace of Lord Buddha, the Mt. Everest and honest Gurkha soldiers has turned into a boxing ring of fighting politicians. The Maoist insurgency costing more than 13,000 lives since 1996 took a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, socio-political life, and economy. Physical infrastructure worth at least US$250 million was destroyed. More than 400,000 rural families were internally displaced while thousands crossed over to India. Tourism and garment industries that have been a mainstay of the economy for decades are today in shambles. Unemployment rate has soared forcing youngsters to go abroad for work. Those that can’t find foreign employment remain as potential recruits for the insurgency completing a vicious enclose of poverty, malgovernance and insurrection. |
| Date: | 26 January 2007 |
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