Pardee Fellow Presents at International Political Science Congress

Pardee Center Graduate Research Fellow Moeed Yusuf made a presentation on South Asian politics and strategy during the International Political Science Association’s (IPSA) 21st World Congress held July 12-16, 2009 in Santiago, Chile.

Yusuf’s paper titled “Pakistan’s Failure at Democratic Consolidation: Explaining the Cyclical Pattern of Civilian and Military Rule” was part of a panel on the Role of Militaries in Democratization. In the paper, Yusuf  presents an innovative model for Pakistan, arguing that lack of stable and sustained democracy in Pakistan is not an outcome of the predominance of the military or the external threat from India, both commonly asserted theses, but instead the result of Pakistan’s deep societal fissures that make it impossible for viable coalition politics to take root.

Yusuf, a doctoral candidate and Senior Teaching Fellow at Boston University’s Political Science Department, also was nominated at the ISPA meeting to be the co-convener of the Research Committee on Militaries and Democratization. This honorary position allows him to promote the subject matter in global political science research.