Support for China–Pakistan Economic Corridor development in Pakistan: A local community perspective using the social exchange theory

China and Pakistan have initiated a mega project with the name of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This study examines how local residence support of CPEC is shaped in Pakistan. This study employs a social exchange theory to explain how perceived impacts affect an individual's level of support for CPEC development. Findings reveal that social exchange theory fits the data well by confirming that the more residents perceive impacts positively, the more they are likely to support CPEC. Data were collected online using the Google platform from 280 citizens, residing in all provinces of Pakistan. Findings of this study validate most of the hypothesis. Positive impact shows significant effect on personal benefit and support for CPEC development. Similarly, personal benefit also shows significant effect on support for CPEC development. However, negative impact shows insignificant effect on personal benefit and support for CPEC development. Findings of this study will guide the government officials and policymakers of CPEC about the perception of local people residence, both positive and negative impact. Policymakers can use the findings of this study to gain local citizen's support for the CPEC development projects and designs policies accordingly for the future projects.     

Increasing access to rural maternal health services in Zambia through demand-side interventions

This paper examines a demand-side intervention that significantly increased access to maternal health services in rural Zambia in a context where skilled birth attendance rates had been stagnant for over two decades. Aspects of the intervention design that were crucial to the programme's success were the participatory and adult learning-centred approach used to mobilise intervention communities, the use of a community volunteer model, and the design's sensitivity and responsiveness to underlying social factors and problems. The demand-side intervention is already being scaled up in six districts, and is highly suitable for national level scale-up.     

SYNERGY FOR A SHARED FUTURE

正I came to China six years ago to try to understand the foreign policy perspectives of China, and the epochal shifts taking place in the global community. Asia’s rise is a reality, and the shifts the world is experiencing in a post-colonialist and post-imperialist age require a re-evaluation of definitions and perceptions.     

The role of the IFI and the EU Peace III Fund in creating sustainable peace in Northern Ireland and the border counties

NGOs aided by external economic aid can play a critical part in post-accord peacebuilding situations. This article explores the impact of the International Fund for Ireland and the European Union Peace III Fund in nurturing sustainable peace through development in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland by examining the perceptions and experiences of 107 local NGO leaders and 13 funding agency development officers. During the summer of 2010, 120 people were interviewed using semi-structured interviews in Derry city and nine border counties. The article explores the role of external economic international assistance aids in building sustainable development, reconciliation, and peace in Northern Ireland and the border counties.     

The conceptual essentials of minimum: explaining Pakistan's rationale of minimum deterrence

Very little is known about Pakistan's nuclear policy and, in particular, about its adoption of minimum deterrence, given the existence of nuclear ambiguity and the absence of public, official documentation of Pakistan's understanding of minimum deterrence. Therefore, despite its innocuousness, ‘minimum’ remains a vague and complex phenomenon short of definitional concreteness when it is brought to a real conceptual test. On the one hand, minimum is regarded as a small number of deterrent forces arguing against expansion and arms competition, while, on the other hand, it is viewed as a relative, and therefore continually evolving, concept depending on the region's fast-changing strategic environment. A conceptual basis for the concept of minimum is explored, leading to the question: why does Pakistan pursue minimum deterrence? It traces out the rationale of Pakistan's minimum deterrence as conceptualized following the 1998 nuclear tests. This rationale of Pakistan's minimum deterrence is then analysed in light of the essentials of minimum deterrence in order to see whether it is consistent with the basics of minimum as conceived here.