Can Pakistan become a Superpower would be an odd question to ask. It would be odd because many around the world do not view Pakistan as having any potential. Pakistan has zero influence around the world today, its rulers are pawns for the global powers and Pakistan cannot even feed its own population let alone project influence abroad.

For several centuries, the Muslim world remained as the global economic super power and the Islamic state stood as a beacon of progression and the peak of civilisation in a world steeped in chaos and turmoil.

Harold Lasswell defined politics as ‘who gets what, when and how’ and this definition of politics has encapsulated political behaviour around the world, with politicians being driven by political positions, resource distribution and out-competing their competitors. This has led to much political apathy around the world, along with the corporatisation of the state, with vested interests penetrating political systems and having a large say over policy and legislation formulations.

In our contemporary world, power politics dominates international relations and this has given undue prominence to the concept of military balance in determining relations between states. Both peace and war is decided as a function of military balance amongst states. Equitable distribution of military power amongst state actors produces peace, while any imbalance leads to war.