The Long Walk to Freedom ( Nelson Mandela )

The book is an autobiography. It follows Mandela's life growing up in apartheid South Africa and fighting against this regime. Two key themes in Long Walk to Freedom are racial inequality and unity. Today, Mandela is remembered as a key anti-racist figure of the twentieth century.

Why Nations Fail ( Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson )

Based on fifteen years of original research Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson marshall a broad range of historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy, ultimately examining why some nations are poor and others rich. Janet Hunter takes issue with the absence of nuancing in the book, but is nevertheless impressed by its striking historical narratives which will do much to captivate readers and stimulate debate.

Pakistan The Garrison State ( Ishtiaq Ahmed )

In 1947, the Pakistan military was poorly trained and poorly armed. It also inherited highly vulnerable territory vis-à-vis the much bigger India, aggravated because of serious disputes with Afghanistan. Over the years, the military, or rather the Pakistan Army, continued to grow in power and influence, and progressively became the most powerful institution. Moreover, it became an institution with de facto veto powers at its disposal to overrule other actors within society including elected governments. Simultaneously, it began to acquire foreign patrons and donors willing to arm it as part of the Cold War competition (the United States), regional balance-of-power concerns (China), and ideological contestants for leadership over the Muslim world (Saudi Arabia, to contain Iranian influence). A perennial concern with defining the Islamic identity of Pakistan, exacerbated by the Afghan jihad, resulted in the convergence of internal and external factors to produce the ‘fortress of Islam’ self-description that became current in the early twenty-first century. Over time, Pakistan succumbed to extremism and terrorism within, and was accused of being involved in similar activities within the South Asian region and beyond. Such developments have been ruinous to Pakistan’s economic and democratic development. This study explains how and why it happened.

Pakistan: A Hard Country ( Anatol Lieven )

 “Pakistan: A Hard Country” is written by Anatol Lieven, who is a British author, policy analyst, and journalist (1985-1998). His well-researched masterpiece “Pakistan: A Hard Country” was published in 2011, which includes twelve chapters distributed in four parts in which he basically explicates the domestic or internal policies, issues, structures, dynamics and struggle of Pakistan (as its title suggests) rather than external ones. This book elucidates the power and political society of Pakistan in depth.