What can history teach us about Pakistan’s current economic dilemmas and its future? In this episode, Ayesha Jalal joins Ijaz Nabi to reflect on the country’s enduring political and economic challenges.The conversation touches on Jinnah’s constitutional vision, the fractured nature of Pakistan’s federal politics, the recurring cycles of aid inflows during military regimes and the missed opportunities for building sustainable growth through trade and taxation. Jalal also emphasizes the importance of reclaiming history as a discipline rather than an ideological tool to better understand identity, regional connections and the possibilities for Pakistan’s future within South Asia.
Dr. Ijaz Nabi is Country Director of Pakistan at the International Growth Centre (IGC) and Executive Director of Consortium for Policy Development Research (CDPR). He is a member of Pakistan Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. He formerly worked at the World Bank in Washington DC (1986-2008).
Dr. Ayesha Jalal is the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University and one of the most prominent historians of Pakistan and South Asia. She is widely recognized for her scholarship on partition, state formation and South Asian politics. She has taught at leading institutions including Harvard, Columbia and LUMS and is the recipient of Pakistan’s Sitara-i-Imtiaz.