From the counterculture of the 1960s to today’s ‘Gen Z revolutions’, mass uprisings have repeatedly failed to dismantle power because the modern state has learned how to absorb dissent, co-opt its language and rebrand itself without changing its core. www.dawn.com/news/1966347...

The Mob and the State. From Bangladesh to India and Pakistan, lynchings have become a grim substitute for justice, but South Asia’s mobs are not simply spontaneous eruptions of rage. www.dawn.com/news/1964932...

Pakistan’s Grey Zone. Given the current political and economic trajectories, the hybrid regime model is poised to remain the country’s dominant political reality for the foreseeable future. www.dawn.com/news/1963571...

A Hollow March. Sectarian outfits in Pakistan, such as the TLP, remain outsiders to the ideological lineage of the Palestinian struggle they claim to defend. www.dawn.com/news/1949533...

In the age of social media, ‘heroes’ rise and fall in the blink of an eye. From terrorists to influencers, from activists to politicians — societies routinely construct, romanticise and discard their chosen symbols of virtue and rebellion. www.dawn.com/news/1948153...

Sacralising politics. Secular ideas, when imbued with sacred meaning, turn politics into a ‘moral mission’ and reshape democracy’s character in the process. www.dawn.com/news/1944992...

From the US, and Brazil to Pakistan, populist uprisings have been framed as revolts of the people against ‘corrupt elites.’ In truth, these were clashes between rival elites, each cloaking its power struggle in the language of mass resistance. www.dawn.com/news/1933832

The Emerging Global Order. While Western nations and institutions still cling to a fading post-WWII framework, even as the ground beneath them shifts, countries such as China and Pakistan are stepping into new roles following the rise of multi-polar realism. www.dawn.com/news/1925243

From viral videos to populist protests, fame in today’s world is fast, frequent and fleeting. But the pursuit of attention, even in the political arena, can lead to distorted priorities and the manipulation of genuine causes for personal visibility. www.dawn.com/news/1908206...

Manufacturing Populism. Far from being a spontaneous uprising of the people, modern populism has evolved into a carefully curated performance that is produced, packaged and sold by the very elites it claims to oppose. www.dawn.com/news/1906889...

The middle classes, in both the Global North and South, have co-opted the Left’s ideological tools to serve their own upward mobility, while leaving the working class at the mercy of far-right populism. www.dawn.com/news/1903783...

The Free Speech Paradox The concept of ‘free speech’ is celebrated as a cornerstone of democracy, yet history shows that it has always been controversial, contradictory and weaponised by different groups for their own ends. www.dawn.com/news/1902064...

Hard State, Soft State. www.dawn.com/news/1901103...

BLA’s journey from radical student activism to a well-equipped militant force mirrors the shifting sands of South Asian politics. Its historical trajectory, ideological mutations and potential role in an impending regional conflict need to be reckoned with. www.dawn.com/news/1899645...

The Year Zero Ideology. In an age where historical narratives are increasingly weaponised and distorted to serve contemporary agendas, are we erasing the past instead of learning from it? www.dawn.com/news/1898097...

Cricket’s greatest captains have always harboured the ability to galvanise their teams when the odds seemed to be against them. Pakistan’s abysmal cricket team is, once again, in desperate need of such a leader www.dawn.com/news/1896645...

Repeatable Transgression. History has shown that transgressions by and against the state, when left unpunished, tend to resurface with greater intensity. www.dawn.com/news/1895134...

Faith in Falsehoods. www.dawn.com/news/1893623...

The End of History? Fukuyama’s famous thesis was meant to signal liberal democracy’s ultimate victory over all other political ideologies. But with the resurgence of populism, is liberal democracy now eating its own tail? www.dawn.com/news/1892164...

The Big Tech’s Big Rush. Are people being duped and led towards societal collapse and an authoritarian techno-capitalist future? www.dawn.com/news/1890662...

Romantic Nationalism and Fake History. Pseudo-archaeology has played a big role in constructing mythical histories that feed into imagined pasts that ultimately only aid the political aims of ultra-nationalism. www.dawn.com/news/1889117...

It is naive to continue idealising democracy without critiquing it from some awkward angles. www.dawn.com/news/1887627...

Populism thrives as a political style rather than a concrete ideology, merging theatrics and emotional appeal to captivate the masses. But it has also concocted a political narrative derived from middle-income drawing-room chatter. www.dawn.com/news/1886094...

THE POLITICS OF BOYCOTTS AND BUYCOTTS. During boycotting campaigns, many consumers choose products based on the politics of the product than the product as material object. www.dawn.com/news/1884532...

The principle upon which the existence of all youthia YouTubers stands, is … ‘I lie, therefore I am.’

THE CURSE OF 'COLLAPSOLOGY' www.dawn.com/news/1883075...

The Self Coup. www.dawn.com/news/1881733...

“Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state ruled by priests. We have many non-Muslims — they are all Pakistanis …” M.A Jinnah, February, 1948. Happy Birthday Mr. Jinnah, and Merry Christmas to all.

The Myth of Westernisation: The notion that the West has tried to impose Westernisation and secularism in Muslim regions in the past few decades is largely flawed. In fact, the West has done everything it could to ‘Islamise’ populations of these regions. www.dawn.com/news/1880149

Special Richard Grenell edition now available.

The Illusion of Authenticity. The term ‘authentic’ has evolved from a Romantic ideal into marketing gimmicks and aesthetic trends. In many cases, both at home and abroad, the search for authenticity often masks privilege, nostalgia and myth-making. www.dawn.com/news/1878873

Imran Khan must realise that political manoeuvres are planned according to an objective understanding of circumstances. Not according to one’s ego or reactive whims.  www.dawn.com/news/1877380...

Religious Nationalism and its Discontents: Is religious nationalism a launching pad for theocrats? www.dawn.com/news/1875947

Well over a hundred people killed in clashes in Parachinar and Kurram. The 3-day mourning announced by KP’s ‘revolutionary’ government is not for them, but for “dozens” of largely imaginary bodies which supposedly fell in Islāmābād.

Reading into Politics. www.dawn.com/news/1874371

Murshid Nelsona Mandelina.

Hello. Another disgruntled migrant from Twitter/X.