Dr. Muhammad Akram Zaheer More than a century ago, British geographer and political thinker Halford Mackinder presented a theory that continues to shape debates on global power politics. Writing in 1904, Mackinder argued that geography was not merely a backdrop to international affairs; it was one of the decisive forces determining the rise and decline of great powers. His famous “Heartland Theory” proposed that the vast landmass of Eurasia stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia constituted the strategic pivot of world politics. At the time, the theoryRead More

Dr. Muhammad Akram Zaheer The language of global politics has long been shaped by metaphors that attempt to reduce the complexity of international affairs into digestible ideas. Among the most influential in recent years is the “Thucydides Trap,” a phrase popularised by political scientist Graham Allison, drawn from the ancient historian Thucydides, who observed that the rise of Athens and the fear it generated in Sparta made war almost inevitable. In modern strategic discourse, the term has come to describe the supposed inevitability of conflict when a rising power challengesRead More

by Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal History bears eloquent testimony to the immutable truth that no enemy—whether marching openly with banners flying or striking from the shadows with deceit—can ever be mastered without the full and harmonious support of every pillar of the state. Should even a single unit falter or withhold its strength, the grand design for victory collapses. From the sacred struggles of 1948 through successive trials down to the present day in 2025, whenever hostile forces have assailed Pakistan, they have met a resolute and befitting reply. Yet theseRead More