Episode 032 - Saeed Ahmed Rid; Does Democracy positively affect Religious freedom? A case Study of Pakistan

Saeed Ahmed Rid is an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. He did his PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, UK and his postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, UK.

In this paper, he tried to explain how a regime type affects religious freedom in same country. Does personality of the ruler and his political vision matter as well? What type of complexities are created by the changing international environment? What kind of new forums and avenues are available to the religious minorities in democratic dispensation that cannot be provided by the dictatorial regimes?