Aid, Politics and the War of Narratives in the US-Pakistan Relations: A Case Study of Kerry Lugar Berman Act (Routledge / Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) South Asian Series)

By: Hussain Nadim

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Synopsis: This book analyses the aid, politics and the war of narratives between the US and Pakistan under the Kerry Lugar Berman Act (2009–2013), using the security-development nexus as a framing discourse and taking a decolonial approach to the subject. The book explores the politics of US foreign aid to Pakistan, with regard to the issues of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘agency’, to analyse the notions of aid, power and narratives in the asymmetrical US-Pakistan relations. Based on primary interviews and extensive data analysis of US foreign aid datasets, the book specifically argues that foreign aid is based under the hubris of the security-development nexus, which encourages a dialectical power struggle between the US and Pakistan, and between the civil and military actors inside Pakistan, which use the indivisibility of security and development to advance their strategic interests over each other. This book is a timely analysis given the recent political turmoil in Pakistan that saw the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan who blamed the Biden Administration for orchestrating a “regime change” conspiracy against his government. Interdisciplinary and relevant to academic and policy debates, this book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of Development Studies, International Relations, Policy Studies, Area Studies and, in particular, South Asian Politics.