Zahra Niazi

Zahra Niazi

Research Associate

 
 

Zahra Niazi

Professional Experience

Zahra Niazi is a Research Associate at the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS), Islamabad, Pakistan. Her research interests span Sustainable Development, Peace and Development, and Development Economics. She has contributed to high-impact journals, including in the Environment, Development and Sustainability. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies, with a specialisation in Peace, Conflict, and Development, from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan.

Publications

Potential of Pakistan’s IT Industry: A SWOT Analysis

April 29, 2024

In recent years, Pakistan’s IT industry has shown significant potential for growth while confronting various challenges. This Working Paper presentsa comprehensive SWOT analysis to assess the industry’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in detail. It identifies a young demographic base; large freelancing sector; and financial attractiveness for offshore outsourcing of IT services as the major strengths of Pakistan’s IT industry.

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Israel-Iran Standoff and Global Oil Prices

April 25, 2024

The war on Gaza since early October last year has had a limited impact on global oil prices, unlike the spike in oil prices that followed the war in Ukraine, as neither Israel nor the besieged Gaza Strip are significant oil producers. 

For context, global Brent crude oil prices increased briefly after the initial violence in early October

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Pakistan’s Unrealised Remittance Potential

April 8, 2024

The tide of outward migration from Pakistan surged considerably over the past two years (2022 and 2023), with several millions opting to emigrate with the aim of securing better prospects overseas. For instance, the number of skilled, highly skilled, and highly qualified worker migrants from Pakistan alone increased to 0.77 million, compared to 0.26 million in 2020 and 2021 and 0.48 million during 2018 and 2019, the two years before the pandemic.
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Development and Democracy: Part and Parcel of One Another

March 4, 2024

Whether democracy is a precondition for development is a debate that continues to stimulate scholarly reflection till the present day. While this intellectual reflection is praiseworthy, the discussion could have been settled long ago when Amartya Sen redefined the concept of ‘development’ as ‘freedom’– a notion that strongly resonates with the human spirit.
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Usman W. Chohan, Public Value and the Post-Pandemic Society

January 19, 2024

In the book Public Value and the Post-Pandemic Society, author Dr Usman W. Chohan discusses the ‘post-pandemic’ era through the prism of Public Value (PV) scholarship. The first section of the book, titled ‘Changes and Transitions,’ examines the notions of value transition and value stability in the context of the post-COVID era and discusses the two most salient manifestations of challenges to the post-pandemic society, including stagflation and the great resignation.
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