Pushing the Boundaries of Social Sciences
Through innovative research, policy engagement and social outreach. About usOur ValuesOur People
We are an assemblage of scholars dedicated to achieving higher standards of intellectual excellence and integrity with the goal of helping bridge the gap between the theory and practice of social sciences.
Our Work
Our team of senior experts are internationally published on a wide array of themes which are relevant to Pakistan’s policy discourse and at the same time contribute significantly to the field of social sciences.
Our Research
Our research is geared to provide knowledgeable expertise on matters of policy. Additionally, we also aspire to bring cutting-edge research, in social sciences, to the fore.
Our Mission & Objective
At Roads Initiative, our mission and objective is to help empower academics
to generate meaningful discussions on policy matters while at the same time enabling them to help transform the social sciences culture in Pakistan.
Inspire . Innovate . Upgrade .
Inspiring scholars to foster communication between the academia and the policy community through scholarly research, policy discussions, and publications.
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Our Latest Events
ROADS Initiative Winter School (Online)
November 18 -December 6, 2024
The ROADS Initiative winter school on “Alternative ROADS in Social Sciences” aspires to offer postgraduate and undergraduate Social Sciences students the opportunity to develop their knowledge on alternative insights by providing them expert lectures and guidance from top researchers and academics who work on alternative ideas in a variety of Social Sciences disciplines.
Integration Workshop
February 4, 2023
Pearl Continental Hotel,
Lahore.
Dr. Ahmed Waqas Waheed consulted with the Australia Awards to deliver a Reintegration Workshop to the returned scholars. Through the workshop, the alumni were introduced to different strategies of knowledge management so that they could deploy their newly acquired skills more effectively.
Conference Presentation
Aug 22–26, 2022
University of Innsbruck,
Austria
Madeeha Hassan will present her paper “A Critical View on Regional Security and SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund” in the panel on Global Economic Governance during COVID-19 – Perspectives from the Global South at the ECPR General Conference, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
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Our Latest Research Activities
Decolonizing (applied) linguistics in Pakistan
There is a growing tendency globally that suggests decolonizing the social sciences by disrupting colonial legacies. It is argued that the social sciences, including the field of linguistics, are heavily influenced by Eurocentric Enlightenment thinking.1 In the words of Ngugi wa Thiong'O, an...
Captive Minds, Coloniality and International Relations
Ever since Stanley Hoffman1 exposed International Relations as a hegemonized discipline, there has been a growing trend among International Relations scholars to unveil the knowledge and power structures which sustain the hegemony of the West in knowledge production processes. Among the various...
America in Crisis: Will there be a peaceful transfer of power?
The United States enters 2024 with a deep sense of foreboding. As Republican primaries loom to find their nominee for the November presidential election, US politics hits new lows. Donald Trump’s CV plumbs new depths as several states are contemplating barring him from the primaries altogether, on...
Mobilising Knowledge for Power, to Obscure Where it Lies and How it Works – It’s What American Universities, Foundations and the State, Do
Emily Hauptmann, Foundations and American Political Science: The transformation of a discipline, 1945-1970 (University press of Kansas, 2022) It is almost banal to say that “knowledge is power” and yet, even then, miss the woods for the trees. Most of us tend to think at a personal level, or to...
Reading Between the Lines: The Devil is in the Interpretation
“…now is not the moment to blame the victim,” writes Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, and Dan Raviv in Time Magazine1 while defending the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made Gaza the world’s largest ‘open-air prison’2 and killed thousands of innocent civilians including...
“Who Won the Iraq War? Twenty Years On, Iran, China and Russia boosted while US loses ground in the region”
Introduction The twentieth anniversary of American-led aggression in Iraq generated a Great Debate around what was achieved, squandered, and why the US intervened in the first place. This particular anniversary of a crime against peace is especially poignant because of the recent US withdrawal...