Pakistan faces several non-traditional security threats, including macroeconomic instability, climate change, population, cyber security, and food, energy and gender insecurity. While Pakistan has very recently recognized the gravity of non-traditional security threats in its first ever National Security Policy, its key institutions do not have the capacity to effectively address these threats. The lack of formal, effective and centralized coordination and decision-making mechanisms in Pakistan, especially with regard to non-traditional security challenges, not only affect the quality of decision making, but also Pakistan’s relationship and conversation with the international community. The lecture will focus on the current role of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to facilitate debate and coordination on various non-traditional security issues among relevant stakeholders. Some suggestions for restructuring the ONSA to facilitate more effective, efficient and long-term strategic decision making with regard to non-traditional security issues will also be discussed.
You can access the paper here.
Meet the speakers and chair
Dr. Saadia Zahoor is an international law expert. She has worked as a policy expert at the Strategic Policy Planning Cell and assisted the Office of the National Security Adviser on matters related to international law and non-traditional security. Earlier, she worked at the ICRC as a Legal Consultant, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan as an Assistant Legal Adviser and as an Assistant Professor at Bahria University, Islamabad. She has also taught at the International Islamic University, Islamabad. She received her LLB (Hons), LLM (International Law), and PhD (Law) from International Islamic University. She has attended the Centre for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations at The Hague Academy of International Law, Netherland. She holds a diploma in Investor State Arbitration from the College of Law, American University, Washington. She also attended the Singapore International Arbitration Academy 2022 and earned her Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disaster Certification from Harvard University.
Dr Rohan Mukherjee (@rohan_mukh) is Deputy Director at LSE IDEAS and an assistant professor of international relations at LSE. His research focuses on rising powers and how they navigate the power and status hierarchies of international order. His book, Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions, published in the Cambridge Studies in International Relations series with Cambridge University Press, received the 2023 Hedley Bull Prize from the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) and the 2023 Hague Journal of Diplomacy Book Award. His regional focus is on the Asia-Pacific, particularly how major powers such as India, China, the United States, and Japan, and smaller states in South and Southeast Asia, manage the regional effects of global transitions.
More information about the event
This event is hosted by LSE IDEAS
LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. Through sustained engagement with policymakers and opinion-formers, IDEAS provides a forum that informs policy debate and connects academic research with the practice of diplomacy and strategy.