Suchergebnisse

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also recognized as One Belt and One Road (OBOR) is currently renowned external policy initiative of China for regional connectivity. It is a massive infrastructure and transportation project. The study attempts to understand this initiative in broader perspective in terms of big changes at regional and global level. This paper argues that BRI is not just a project of building roads and bridges, but it will simultaneously heighten strategic and economic capability of China. Furthermore, it argues that, China's quest to enhance regional connectivity will be purely based on economic activities. In the meantime, Beijing will use its fiscal leverage to influence the policies of aligned countries to line up with its interests. This paper addresses three main questions: What is the significance of BRI with emphasis on its main objectives? How does this initiative help advance China's interests? What are the expected challenges to BRI?

In the mainstream narratives on the Afghan conflict, primacy is assigned to a binary of 'Mujahedeen' and People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) regime. The struggle of organisations, beyond this binary, such as the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) against and during the communist rule, belies these narratives. Consequently, this article argues that women's liberation is not possible when a state/society is run by an autocratic regime denying democratic freedoms in general. This is equally true about present-day Afghanistan despite the staging of a mainstream intellectual/political spectacle to show that Afghan women were rescued by the USA. In the case of PDPA, we argue that through the harsh measures to subdue the opposition, the 'communist' regime introduced policies with huge consequences for women. Regarding the post-9/11 regime, we flag up its ideologically anti-women character. Therefore, we conclude that women's liberation cannot be achieved under foreign occupations.