Violent extremism has impacted Pakistan since its establishment in 1947. However since 2014, a rise of extremism can be highlighted due to an increase of attacks on civilians. As a response, the...Show moreViolent extremism has impacted Pakistan since its establishment in 1947. However since 2014, a rise of extremism can be highlighted due to an increase of attacks on civilians. As a response, the Pakistani government has shifted the focus away from using violence, to formulating various policy documents. Current academic literature is non-western and solely uses policy documents to analyse CVE. Through a discourse analysis, this paper uses interviews with former and current senior officials, and Pakistani policy documents to analyse overarching themes and differences on the evolution of CVE policies. Accordingly, the research question that this paper seeks to answer is: ‘What is the evolution of Pakistan’s counter-violent extremism policies and how has this affected the country's approach to addressing the threat of extremism?’ The findings indicate that there has been no real revolution since the formulation of the first policy document as they all resemble each other, and that there has been a lack of implementation. Moreover, interviews revealed that extremism is deeply engrained within its society due to the strong link between religion and governmental institutions. These challenges explain the difficulties that hinder the country’s CVE efforts. Limitation of this study includes the sample size and the online setting of the interviews, therefore future research should conduct increase the amount of interviews on the ground.Show less
