The Pakistani Identity Constructed in Reaction to the Outside World

Perceptions of the West created by Pakistan’s Militant Media at the Time of Internal Strife

Authors

  • Krzysztof Dębnicki Collegium Civitas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.13.2016.40.22

Keywords:

Pakistan, militant, media, Islam, West, conspiracy

Abstract

In the past twelve years Pakistan has gone through a period of acute internal strife between the status quo and the emerging new religious/political ideologies. A number of reasons define the conflict: religious, social, economic, international. A very important element of the strife is the psychological attitude of Pakistanis towards their own state, religion and the world at large. The key elements of this psychological attitude are: inferiority/superiority complex vis‑à‑vis their Arab neighbours, India, and the Western world, and the commonly held belief in dangerous conspiracies that the world outside is constantly hatching against it. These two elements are enhanced by militant (jihadi) electronic and printed media creating a strongly skewed vision of the outside world.

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Author Biography

  • Krzysztof Dębnicki, Collegium Civitas

    Professor at Collegium Civitas and the Department of Oriental Studies, Warsaw University. Previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Poland in New Delhi (1995-1999), Ambassador to Mongolia (2001-2005) and Ambassador to Pakistan (2007-2010). Specialises in the history and contemporary socio-political problems of South and Central Asia.

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Published

05-02-2016

How to Cite

“The Pakistani Identity Constructed in Reaction to the Outside World: Perceptions of the West Created by Pakistan’s Militant Media at the Time of Internal Strife”. 2016. Politeja 13 (1 (40): 349-71. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.13.2016.40.22.

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