Training British and EU Officials for Pakistan & SE Asia, 2007–13
Submitting Institution
Bath Spa UniversityUnit of Assessment
HistorySummary Impact Type
SocietalResearch Subject Area(s)
Studies In Human Society: Political Science
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies
Philosophy and Religious Studies: Religion and Religious Studies
Summary of the impact
Professor Iftikhar Malik's research on the cultural and political history
of South Asia has informed public discourse in the UK, and has been
particularly influential in informing British and EU policy and practice
in Pakistan. This has resulted from Malik's involvement in the briefing of
British diplomats and the training of EU officials, including election
monitors for Pakistan, 2007-13.
Underpinning research
Iftikhar Malik's desire to raise public awareness and dispel
misconceptions about Pakistan and the wider Muslim world runs through the
extensive corpus of his books, articles, essays, reviews and think-pieces.
His research, which has focused around studies of state and civil society
in Pakistan, and the intricate relationship between Islam, nationalism and
the West, is best exemplified through several significant monographs, all
researched and published while employed by Bath Spa University, initially
as a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in History in 1995 and, after 2005, as
Professor:
-
State and Civil Society in Pakistan: Politics of Authority,
Ideology and Ethnicity (Macmillan, 1997)
-
Jihad, Hindutva and the Taliban: South Asia at the Crossroads
(OUP, 2005) 25cf Crescent Between Cross and Star: Muslims and the
West after 9/11 (OUP Pakistan, 2006)
-
Culture and Customs of Pakistan (Greenwood, 2005)
-
Pakistan: Democracy, Terrorism, and the Building of a Nation
(New Holland, 2010).
In State and Civil Society in Pakistan: Politics of Authority,
Ideology and Ethnicity, Malik takes on the daunting task of
explaining the state and society of Pakistan through a study of the
operation of the `triangle of authority, ideology, and ethnicity', thus
providing a theoretical and historical framework for understanding
Pakistan's complicated political and cultural history. The volume offers
the first definition of civil society in a Pakistani context and explores
issues around national integration, ethnicity and gender, suggesting that
Pakistan's dilemmas are due to the disequilibrium between an authoritarian
state and a polarized and ineffectual civil society.
The impact of 9/11 and its aftermath was particularly felt among scholars
of South Asian and Muslim history. Professor Malik responded to the
intensity of the period with a rich and varied series of articles and
books that explored both the resultant global situation and the
misconceptions about Islam that it engendered. Two of these, Jihad,
Hindutva and the Taliban: South Asia at the Crossroads (OUP, 2005)
and Crescent Between Cross and Star: Muslims and the West after 9/11
(OUP Pakistan, 2006) featured strongly in RAE08. In Jihad, Hindutva
and the Taliban, Malik explored the challenges to pluralism in South
Asia through an examination of the three key forces at work: jihad,
Hindutva and the Taliban. He contextualised the rise of jihad and the
Taliban in light of wider ethno-nationalisms in South Asia and the
universality of reactionary religio-political thinking in the Middle East.
Concerns about popular misconceptions and general lack of knowledge about
Pakistani history and society among the western public resulted in Malik's
successful cross-over text, Culture and Customs of Pakistan
(2005). Taken together, these three books served, among other things, as a
catalyst for invitations to brief British diplomats and personnel who were
going to work in Pakistan, and to train EU election monitors.
In Pakistan: Democracy, Terrorism, and the Building of a Nation
(2010), Professor Malik focused once again on the troubled history of
Pakistan in the light of its current difficulties. In a purposefully
accessible text, he examined the difficulties facing the new country after
1947 as it struggled to cope with contending national visions, the
complications of Islamic politics, and tensions due to regional or ethnic
identities. As Robert Nichols remarked, the result is `a valuable guide to
a national history of recurring periods marked by struggling democratic
institutions and military interventionism, both simultaneously challenged
and often informed by internal Islamist advocacy, and always in the
context of unsettled foreign affairs.' [http://www.h-
net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=32452] This commitment to accessible
research has presented Prof. Malik with media appearance opportunities
that have greatly influenced the public discourse on Pakistan.
References to the research
1) Malik, I. (1997) State and Civil Society in Pakistan: Politics of
Authority, Ideology and Ethnicity (Palgrave Macmillan)
2) Malik, I. (2005) Culture and Customs of Pakistan (Greenwoods)
[also now available as an e-book] (Submitted to RAE 2008)
3) Malik, I. (2005) Jihad, Hindutva and the Taliban: South Asia at
the Crossroads (OUP) (Submitted to RAE 2008)
4) Malik, I. (2006) Crescent Between Cross and Star: Muslims and the
West after 9/11 (OUP Pakistan) (Submitted to RAE 2008)
5) Malik, I. (2010) Pakistan: Democracy, Terrorism, and the Building
of a Nation (Olive Branch Press).
Details of the impact
Context
Professor Malik is in demand from public-interest groups, the media,
diplomats, and British and European policy-makers, both as a commentator
and as an expert, adviser and trainer. His significance and the reach of
his impact is reflected in the diversity of his activities, which extend
from media appearances and public and specialist lectures, through to
serving as a subject expert on asylum cases for the United Kingdom Border
Authority (2012) and training western diplomats, officials and election
monitors to work in South Asia and Pakistan. As such, Professor Malik's
work has impacted on the UK's public discourse on Pakistan, and has shaped
diplomatic-level policy on Pakistan in the UK and across Europe.
Impact on the UK's public discourse on Pakistan
Professor Malik's carefully balanced, historically grounded insights and
expertise on political Islam and Pakistan made him an internationally
recognized academic expert before 9/11, but demand for his services as an
expert commentator and opinion-former grew exponentially thereafter.
Post-9/11 he gave 485 radio, media and community interviews/engagements
that were precipitated by the attack on the Twin Towers and the subsequent
developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan (2001-8). Since RAE08, he
has made more than 300 media appearances, giving interviews for, among
others, BBC local radio (e.g., Wiltshire, Oxfordshire), BBC Radio 4 and
the BBC World Service (Urdu and Hindi), BBC World TV, BBC News 24,
Aljazeera TV and Radio Pakistan. His ability to work in multiple
languages, such as the two interviews in Urdu on the state of Minorities
in Pakistan, filmed for www.alislam.org
in 2011 and uploaded to YouTube, extend his reach beyond the Anglophone
world. Modern media culture and the global news channels in particular
depend upon the contributions of experts such as Professor Malik. Scholars
such as Malik provide the `substance', the knowledge and the informed
opinion, which shapes the thinking of programme-makers and interviewers,
and makes the programmes themselves possible. Their research also serves
to frame the debates and issues, thus influencing societal assumptions and
informing wider public discourse.
Impact on Pakistan-related policy
In 2012, Professor Malik was invited by the European Institute for Public
Affairs (EIPA) to present two papers in Brussels, on Afghanistan and
Pakistan respectively to a select group of 28 EU policy-makers and
diplomats and officials. As some of those present had already served in
the area and others were preparing to be posted to Southwest Asia,
Professor Malik's contributions sparked informed discussion on issues
around current policies and their implementation.
He was also subsequently invited by the British Embassy in Berlin to
participate in the second annual UK-Germany seminar on Pakistan (3 May
2013). These `consultations will give senior British and German officials
and non-government participants the chance to look ahead to the Pakistani
parliamentary elections, and to assess what Pakistan's foreign policy
choices mean for the UK, Germany and the region.' (Simon Macdonald,
British Ambassador, Berlin)
Impact on diplomatic training for posting to Pakistan
Professor Malik's invitation to provide specialized briefing sessions at
the Farnham Centre for International Briefing for British diplomats and
officials/trainers prior to postings to Pakistan was a direct result of
his media presence and extensive publication record, particularly Culture
and Customs of Pakistan (2005). Over the course of this census
period he has conducted eight such briefings.
His connection with the EU, which has seen him undertake numerous
training appointments since 2007, resulted from a contact made when
speaking at the Annual Conference of Sociology and Anthropology, York
University, Toronto, 30 May-2 June 2006. Recruited by the Scuola Superiore
Sant'Anna, at the University of Pisa, a prestigious school of
international relations which has been selected by the EU to train EU
personnel, including election monitors, Malik gave training sessions on
the history, politics, cultures and economy of Pakistan to c.100 election
monitors from EU and OECD countries in both 2007 and 2008. In 2009 he was
invited back to Pisa, this time to train c.60 EU personnel
(doctors, nurses, firefighters, first-aid officials, earthquake rescue
teams, etc.) to work across the Muslim countries in natural emergencies
and disasters.
In 2013, with elections in Pakistan looming, Malik was once again
approached by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and asked to organize three
training workshops in Brussels (27 March; 8, 30 April). At these workshops
Malik trained c.100 EU election monitors (representing all EU nations and
various other countries, such as Canada). The feedback from these sessions
rated Malik's training highly, at 8.3-8.50/10; moreover, he was praised
specifically for his `huge knowledge' and his personal understanding of
Pakistani customs and culture. As one anonymous attendee commented,
Malik's sessions provided, `Broad sweeping coverage like a Tsunami wave of
information.'
Sources to corroborate the impact
Statements from individuals, available from the University:
1) Statements from: Professor of Public International Law, Scuola
Superiore Sant'Anna at the University of Pisa, 8 Jan., 18 Feb. 2013;
Feedback, Pakistan EU EOM LTO's. Corroboration of impact of EU
election monitor training.
2) Statements from: The Ambassador, British Embassy, Berlin, 22
Apr. 2013. Impact on foreign policy.
Reviews and interviews available online:
3) Review of MALIC, I. State and Civil Society in Pakistan:
Politics of Authority, Ideology and Ethnicity (Macmillan, 1997)
Ayesha Jalal, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb.,
1999), pp. 238-2:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2658459.
`...there can be no challenging his thesis that Pakistan's dilemmas are
due to the disequilibrium between an authoritarian state and a polarized
and ineffectual civil society. His observation that successive ruling
configurations in conjunction with dominant social groups have worked to
denude civil society of all initiative is undeniable':
4) Review of MALIC, I. Jihad, Hindutva and the Taliban: South
Asia at the Crossroads (OUP, 2005) Ian Talbot, Political Studies
Review, 4 (2007): http://www.politicalreviewnet.com/polrev/reviews/PSR/R_1478_9299_1866_1006828.asp
`... this is a study which deals with crucial issues not only for South
Asia, but for the wider world. The opening years of the twenty-first
century have revealed the dangers of majoritarianism in a variety of
political settings. The greater celebration of pluralism which Iftikhar
Malik calls for along with the strengthening of civil society is a matter
of profound significance.'
5) Review of MALIC, I. Culture and Customs of Pakistan
(2005) Jain, B.M. (2008). Culture and Customs of Pakistan. Journal of
Third World Studies, 25, 278-280
`eminently refreshing and enlightening. It will interest both the general
and intellectual readership ... recommended as an essential reading for
students studying South Asian history, society and culture.'
6) Review of MALIC, I. Pakistan: Democracy, Terrorism, and
the Building of a Nation (2010). Robert Nichols, H-Asia (April
2011):
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=32452
`Those looking for some insight into the latest political events and
violence in Pakistan will find it here. No simple optimist, the author is
fully aware of the challenges ahead. Still, his last sentence reflects a
vision past immediate crises to a time when maturing national interests
might recognize that "Democracy, dialogue and distributive justice are the
keys to a bright future for Pakistan".'
7) Review of MALIC, I. Pakistan: Democracy, Terrorism, and
the Building of a Nation (2010). `Prominent author and professor
Malik takes an in-depth look at the history and development of a country
often at war, shrouded in distrust and uncertainty, and struggling to
maintain its status as a nuclear power. [...]Malik's impressive knowledge
of the region makes this most complicated of countries easy to grasp.' Publishers
Weekly
8) A pair of interviews in Urdu, `Guftugu [A conversation] with Dr
Iftikhar Malik', Bath Spa University on the state of Minorities in
Pakistan, filmed for http://www.alislam.org/. (Dec. 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JFQ16wsdcc
(748 views) [28-10-13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH7WhoUrN18
(442 views) [28-10-13].