Center of Public Policy

Abstract: Foreign divestments have become a regular feature of global investment patterns. These divestments have mainly been explained by changes in the economic and institutional factors of the host countries. Recently, as institutional quality has improved in ...

Recent democratization in the Muslim-majority countries (MMCs) has led to a surge in interest in the Islamist (or Islamic)
parties. Research on these parties has, however, been plagued by the lack of agreement on identifying these parties. Analysis
of various ways used to identify/define Islamist parties shows shortcomings. This article tries to resolve the conundrum by
identifying these parties within a comparative framework, that is, Gunther and Diamond party typology. Two major types of
Islamist parties are identified and placed within the Gunther and Diamond typology. This solution has two advantages. First,
discussions on Islamist parties can now become more grounded, restricting analysts from labeling any conservative party in
the MMCs as Islamist. Second, Islamist parties can be part of the general discussion on political parties in the literature, and
inclination to regard them as singular or exceptional, because of their link with Islam, is discouraged.

Increasing evidence of temperature variations from different regions of the world has made climate change a scientific fact. It is also clear that developing countries will be disproportionally affected by this change and, therefore, it is necessary for them to adopt policies and devise rules and regulations to make implications of climate change less painful for their people. This study looks at the major policies, rules and regulations relating to the project planning and approval process in Pakistan and accesses whether climate change considerations have been incorporated in these guidelines. A survey has also been used to ascertain the importance of climate change considerations in the work of public sector officials dealing with project planning and approval process.