Najam Discusses Future of Politics in Pakistan

On April 12, 2022, Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, appeared on DawnNews‘ program “News Wise” to analyze the long-term impacts of the political changes in Pakistan. 

Najam argues that April 9, 2022, in Pakistan – the day in which Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote – is akin to January 6, 2021, in the United States in that it signifies a fundamental sea change in political conduct and the impacts are going to be pervasive and long-term. He notes that what we are seeing in Pakistan now is another example of a global trend towards deep populism where the streets and social media become the primary battleground of politics. In Pakistan, Najam says that this has been manifest most visibly in the largest party in parliament literally walking out of parliament to continue their politics on the streets.

A clip of Najam’s interview can be viewed below.

Adil Najam is a global public policy expert who also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He is the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and was the former Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Read more about Dean Najam on his faculty profile.