Back in 2012, a Pakistani professor named Farakh A. Khan issued a dire warning about the state of his country’s public institutions. “Pakistan suffers from institutional failure,” he declared in an essay published about a year before his death. “Failed institutions are unable to correct the problems faced by the society and eventually lead to economic failure… If our leaders are sincere for change in Pakistan then they have to first get the institutions working again. But do they know how or have the will to do it?”

Pakistan is convulsed by power shortages that at times have approached 50 percent of national demand. And yet the country’s energy problems are arguably rooted more in shortages of governance than of pure supply. It is a complicated crisis that threatens Pakistan’s economy and its precarious security situation, while also deleteriously affecting the lives of everyday residents across the board. This new publication offers a series of recommendations to ease one of Pakistan’s most serious and intractable challenges.

Pakistan is South Asia’s most rapidly urbanizing country. In barely 10 years, nearly 50 percent of its 180 million people will live in cities (a third do today). This new publication discusses the drivers of Pakistan’s urbanization, and examines the country’s major urban challenges. It also offers a series of policy recommendations and ways forward to help tackle a trend that won’t be going away anytime soon.

After a period of warming ties in 2011 and 2012, Pakistan-India relations are off to a rough start in 2013 threatening to weaken the momentum for normalizing commercial ties between the two neighbors. A new Asia Program publication on Pakistan-India trade highlights the benefits and risks for both countries of a formal trade relationship, and examines what needs to be done to push the process.

A new Wilson Center report, “Aiding Without Abetting: Making U.S. Civilian Assistance to Pakistan Work for Both Sides,” is the culmination of a year long working group convened to reevaluate the Kerry Lugar Berman Act. What can be done to salvage KLB before the U.S. civilian assistance program is deemed a failure?

Pakistan’s population is young, fast growing, and rapidly urbanizing. This new book, edited by program associate Michael Kugelman and program director Robert M. Hathaway , examines how the country can harness the promise of a population often viewed as a hindrance to prosperity and threat to stability.

Seventy seven million Pakistanis are going hungry, and 45 million are malnourished. Weather, resource shortages, and conflict all intensify Pakistan’s food insecurity. This new publication examines Pakistan’s food woes from a variety of angles.

Pakistan, already plagued by widespread water shortages, is expected to become water scarce by 2035 though some experts project this may happen as soon as 2020, if not earlier. This new publication examines Pakistan’s water pressures, focusing on both rural and urban angles, and suggests ways forward.

This volume examines Pakistan’s trade challenges and particularly how to make its exports more globally competitive. The book’s 13 contributors assess Pakistan’s recent trade performance; analyze the societal effects of trade in Pakistan; and review Pakistan’s regional trade and the Pakistan U.S. trade relationship.

This volume assesses Pakistan’s energy needs over the next 25-30 years, and it seeks to foster debate on how Pakistan might succeed in meeting its energy requirements in the decades ahead.

This volume takes a fresh look at one of the most pressing problems facing Pakistan today its wholly inadequate education system. Until and unless Pakistan comes to grips with the many deficiencies in the manner in which it educates its young people, it is unlikely to be successful in creating a flourishing, prosperous, tolerant country. This Asia Program volume seeks to promote debate and encourage innovative thinking on the present and future of education in Pakistan.

This conference report explores the likelihood and consequences of a course of action pushed by important political and religious groups in Pakistan: the adoption by Pakistan of an Islamic economy. This publication aims to identify some of the implications for Pakistan’s financial and economic well being should Pakistan decide to pursue this course.