Reading power: Muslims in the war on terror discourse

ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes the relationship between Muslims and the west defined at a particular moment in post 9/11 America and the war on terror context through a conversation in the novel The Submission (2011) by Amy Waldman. It critiques the construction of knowledge about Muslims and how this knowledge functions as part of a hegemonic discourse of Orientalism. The novel is about a public competition for an architectural design for a memorial marking the site of the World Trade Centre attacks in New York City. Khan is the architect who wins the competition through a blind selection process. But when his identity is revealed, public controversy erupts. Claire, the other protagonist in this encounter, is a white woman with two children, widowed in the 9/11 attacks. She is also a member of the selection committee. While Claire’s assumptions denote western, hegemonic representations that define Muslims in narrow ways, Khan’s responses represent a critique of this Orientalist construction, as well as indicating how it can be reshaped, with all the tension that this process provokes. This fictional encounter offers an opportunity to reflect on decolonial possibilities in the ‘real life’ encounter between Muslims and the west in the war on terror context. Dr. Uzma Jamil is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the International Centre for Muslim and Non- Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia

International Competitiveness—Where Pakistan Stands?

The concept of competitiveness has been widely accepted and has become a part of discussion in world-wide forums. Today global economy cannot be explained in the same manner as it was a few decades ago. Improved competitiveness of economies is a need of the day and ability to compete in the world market is of major concern. This paper attempts to assess the position of Pakistan in the International Competitiveness. As a survey paper, the concept, definition and the measurement of competitiveness have been analysed further to assess Pakistan’s position in the region. Competitiveness is linked with export performance of other trading and non trading countries. Pakistan’s export performance is analysed in this context. Lessons for Pakistan have been drawn on the basis of experiences of emerging economies. It has been concluded that countries can strengthen their export markets with the passage of time. They need to improve the governance as well as technological progress to increase high-tech exports. Developing countries like Pakistan start from low technology and with passage of time shift to improved technologies. Technology-based activities help improving export performance that brings competitiveness of a country. The paper also suggests a model to government of Pakistan which describes that high technology exports will be a result of extensive Research and Development (R&D) using human capital as an investment in the country. The success depends upon the combined efforts of the government, individuals and business initiatives both in public and private sectors.Competitiveness, Growth Performance

International Competitiveness  Where Pakistan Stands?

The concept of competitiveness has been widely accepted and has become a part of discussion in world-wide forums. Today global economy cannot be explained in the same manner as it was a few decades ago. Improved competitiveness of economies is a need of the day and ability to compete in the world market is of major concern. This paper attempts to assess the position of Pakistan in the International Competitiveness. As a survey paper, the concept, definition and the measurement of competitiveness have been analysed further to assess Pakistans position in the region. Competitiveness is linked with export performance ofother trading and non trading countries. Pakistans export performance is analysed in this context. Lessons for Pakistan have been drawn on the basis of experiences of emerging economies. It has been concluded that countries can strengthen their export markets with the passage of time. They need to improve the governance as well as technological progress to increase high-tech exports. Developing countries like Pakistan start from low technology and with passage of time shift to improved technologies. Technology-based activities help improving export performance that brings competitiveness of a country. The paper also suggests a model to government of Pakistan which describes that high technology exports will be a result of extensive Research and Development (R&D) using human capital as an investment in the country. The success depends upon the combined efforts of the government, individuals and business initiatives both in public and private sectors.competitiveness, Growth Performance

Microfinance as Business

We analyze microfinance institutions (MFIs) as businesses, asking how some succeed in covering costs, earning returns, attracting capital, and scaling up. We draw on existing literature and interviews with industry players and academics. Key microfinance business challenges include building volume, keeping loan repayment rates high, retaining customers, and minimizing scope for fraud. Since the 1970s, microfinance innovators have developed clever solutions to these problems. Some have built huge organizations that serve thousands or millions of clients and have demonstrated an impressive capacity for change—in countries, to boot, with weak infrastructure and human capital. The individual innovations have spread both through a Darwinian process of selection and through cultural diffu-sion. We examine three kinds of determinants of commercial success: product design, management, and environmental factors such as regulation. We conclude that much about how microfinance is de-livered can be understood as responses to business imperatives. Indeed, the discoveries of techniques for cost-effective microfinance delivery are the real genius of microfinance, rather than the "discovery" that the poor can repay that dominates its public image. But by Occam's razor (simpler explanations are more plausible), the power of commercial imperatives to explain so many product design choices weakens an alternative explanation for them, namely that they are made primarily to help clients. These doubts point up the need for more rigorous impact evaluations of microfinance.microfinance

Does Governance Contribute to Pro-poor Growth? Evidence from Pakistan

Economic growth is a driving force in reducing poverty, but experience has shown that good governance and pro-poor choices are vitally important in the process of alleviating poverty. This paper explores linkages between governance and pro-poor growth in Pakistan for the period 1996 to 2005. The analysis indicates that governance indicators have low scores and rank at the lowest percentile as compared to other countries. The dimensions of pro-poor growth, which include poverty, inequality, and growth, demonstrate that the poor do not benefit proportionately from economic growth. It is found that poverty and inequality have worsened and the share in income and expenditure for the bottom 20 percent has also decreased, while inflation for this lowestincome group is high as compared to the highest-income group. It is also observed that approximately 25 percent households reported that their economic status was worse than in the previous year, 2004-05. The results of the study show that a strong link exists between governance indicators and pro-poor growth in the country. Econometric analysis shows that there is a strong relationship between good governance and reduction in poverty and inequality. It is concluded that greater voice and accountability, political stability, regulatory quality, and rule of law can control corruption and the pro-poor policies, which ultimately reduce poverty and inequality in the long run. To face the challenge of good governance, Pakistan needs to formulate, and implement effectively, its governance policies to improve the governance dimensions, taking account of both higher growth and the aim of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which require halving poverty by 2015.Governance Indicators, Pro-poor Growth, poverty, Inequality

Synthesis and Crystal Structure of 1-(3-fluorophenyl)-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyl)thiourea

The title thiourea was synthesized by reaction of 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyl isothiocyante with 3-fluoroaniline. The 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyl isothiocyante was produced in situ by reaction of 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyl chloride with ammonium thiocyanate in dry acetonitrile. The structure was confirmed by the spectroscopic, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction data. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c with unit cell dimensions a = 13.0966(9), b = 16.6460(13), c = 7.8448(5), β = 106.721(5)°, V 1637.9(2) ų, Z = 4

Dimensions of Well-being and the Millennium Development Goals

Well-being and happiness, individually and collectively, is a main indicator of a good life. This paper attempts to implement empirically some of the multidimensional concepts of human well-being by using data from the ‘Pakistan Living Standards Measurement Survey’ 2006-07. Objective well-being index and subjective well-being index are constructed to study regional disparities in the quality of life. The results reveal that most of the top ranked districts are located in the province of Punjab which tends to indicate that Punjab is ahead of other provinces in terms of objective well-being. Sindh and NWFP districts are dominated in the category of lower medium well-being category. At the lower end of the distribution districts of Balochistan emerged in lowest category of well-being. It is observed that Punjab have highest share of population in top category of well-being while population of Balochistan gets major share in lowest category of wellbeing. It is important to note that those districts which have higher achievements in hard facts of well-being, acquire less subjective well-being in term of satisfaction. Districts of Balochistan, with least developed indicators, perception about the quality of life is evident in their lowest level of satisfaction. Since the underlying premise of the MDGs is still the concept of human development, so priorities is needed to concentrate on least developed districts for achieving the MDGs by 2015.Well-being, Objective, Subjective, Measurement, Quality of Life

Non-Wire Alternatives to Capacity Expansion

Distributed energy resources (DERs) can serve as non-wire alternatives to capacity expansion by managing peak load to avoid or defer traditional expansion projects. In this paper, we study a planning problem that co-optimizes DERs investment and operation (e.g., energy efficiency, energy storage, demand response, solar photovoltaic) and the timing of capacity expansion. We formulate the problem as a large scale (in the order of millions of variables because we model the operation of DERs over a period of decades) non-convex optimization problem. Despite its non-convexities, we find its optimal solution by decomposing it using the Dantzig-Wolfe Decomposition Algorithm and solving a series of small linear problems. Finally, we present a real planning problem at the University of Washington Seattle Campus.Comment: This document is an online supplement for a paper submitted to the 2018 Power and Energy Society General Meetin