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Showing posts from March, 2014

A battle of ideologies

For a while a debate has raged in development economics between the 'bottom-up” school (main protagonist: Bill Easterly) and the approach to the “top-down” school (Jeffrey Sachs and the aid agencies). It seems what is happening in Pakistan is providing an ideal experiment to test which of the competing visions is doing better. As we all know Pakistan is the front-line state in the 'Clash of Civilizations'. Within Pakistan, too the war is about Islam and What it means for Pakistan. Both sides hang on to shreds of evidence to prove their case. Truth is there are 2 competing visions of Pakistan and the contest is heading towards the finish line and it seems that the Islamic side is winning. Those on the liberal side perhaps in recognition of their weakness are getting increasingly shrill--in oped pieces and talk shows-- “begging for the army to save them”.  All they want is some force whoever it might be to go out and fight for them and their lifestyle. History shows