Ideology and National Interest: CSS Solved Answer

Exam question: CSS 2022, Q5: Every state designs its foreign policy on its National interests rejecting feelings and emotions. Why did Pakistan prefer emotions, feelings and Ideology in its foreign policy? Also analyze its impact.

Syllabus topic: Topic XVIII of the CSS Pakistan Affairs syllabus.

Short answer

Outline for quick revision

Introduction
Why Pakistan Gave Weight to Ideology and Emotion: Founding identity; The Kashmir cause; Search for allies against India; Legitimacy for rulers; Public opinion
Examples of Ideology and Emotion in Foreign Policy: The Muslim world and the OIC; Palestine and Israel; The Afghan jihad and “strategic depth”; Kashmir militancy
Impact: Benefits; Costs
Critical Evaluation: Has Pakistan Ignored National Interest?: Pakistan has often been pragmatic; Ideology can be part of interest; A shift to geo-economics
Way Forward
Conclusion

Reference colours:
Quotation / documentPersonality / historySyllabus bookCurrent referenceOfficial report / policy

1. Introduction

Classical realists argue that foreign policy should be guided only by national interest, security, survival and economic gain, not by sentiment. Pakistan’s foreign policy, however, has often been shaped by ideology and emotion: Muslim solidarity, the Kashmir cause, pan-Islamic sentiment and religious framing of conflicts such as the Afghan jihad. The question asks why and with what impact. This answer argues that ideology entered Pakistan’s foreign policy because of its founding identity, its security dilemma with India and the interests of its ruling elites; that it brought some real benefits, especially in the Muslim world, but also heavy costs when emotion replaced calculation; and that the challenge is to align ideology with interest, not to abandon it.

“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Lord Palmerston, British Foreign Secretary, House of Commons, 1 March 1848

Definition: National interest is the set of goals a state pursues to secure its survival, territorial integrity, economic well-being and values. Realists such as Hans Morgenthau (Politics Among Nations, 1948) define it as “interest defined in terms of power”, while constructivists argue that a nation’s identity and ideology also shape what it sees as its interest.

2. Why Pakistan Gave Weight to Ideology and Emotion

Founding identity

Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and Muslim nationhood. Its leaders naturally saw solidarity with the Muslim world as part of its identity, a feeling rooted in the pan-Islamic sentiment of the Khilafat Movement.

Syllabus book: Farzana Shaikh, Making Sense of Pakistan (2009), argues that Pakistan’s central difficulty is an unresolved identity: the uncertainty over what role Islam should play in a nation founded in its name. The Two-Nation Theory succeeded as a basis for separation, but its meaning for state-building is still debated.

The Kashmir cause

Kashmir is seen not only as territory but as the “unfinished business of Partition” and an issue of Muslim self-determination. This emotional and ideological commitment has shaped Pakistan’s relations with India and the world since 1947.

Search for allies against India

Facing a much larger India, Pakistan looked to the Muslim world for diplomatic, financial and moral support; religious solidarity was also a strategic tool.

Legitimacy for rulers

Military and civilian rulers used Islamic and emotional slogans to win domestic support, most clearly Zia-ul-Haq, who framed the Afghan war as jihad.

Syllabus book: Zahid Hussain, Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam (2007), shows how the state’s own use of jihadi groups in Afghanistan and Kashmir created the militancy that later turned against Pakistan itself.

Public opinion

A deeply religious public strongly supports causes such as Palestine and Kashmir; governments that ignore these feelings risk unrest.

Current reference: Pan-Islamic feeling remains a powerful force in Pakistan: the famine in Gaza, confirmed by the UN-backed IPC in August 2025, brought mass public solidarity across the country. As in the Khilafat era, the challenge is to turn emotion into effective diplomacy.

3. Examples of Ideology and Emotion in Foreign Policy

The Muslim world and the OIC

Pakistan hosted the second OIC summit at Lahore (February 1974) and has consistently championed Muslim causes at the UN.

Palestine and Israel

Pakistan does not recognise Israel and supports a Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital, a position based on principle and public sentiment rather than material gain.

The Afghan jihad and “strategic depth”

In the 1980s Pakistan backed the Afghan mujahideen as a religious duty and a strategic necessity, and later recognised the Taliban government (1997) in the hope of a friendly western neighbour.

Syllabus book: Bruce Riedel, Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad (2011), argues that the US-Pakistan relationship of the Afghan jihad of the 1980s fed the growth of the jihadist networks that now threaten both.

Kashmir militancy

Support for the Kashmiri struggle, including the Kargil episode of 1999, was driven as much by emotion as by calculation, and brought international pressure on Pakistan.

4. Impact

Benefits

Support from the Muslim world

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and others have provided oil facilities, deposits, investment and jobs for millions of Pakistanis; the Gulf is now the largest source of remittances.

Current reference: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement on 17 September 2025 (“any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”); on 7 August 2026, Turkey joined them in the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.

Diplomatic support on Kashmir

The OIC and Muslim states have supported Pakistan’s position on Kashmir in international forums.

Moral standing

Principled positions on Palestine and Muslim causes give Pakistan credibility and soft power in the Muslim world and among developing countries.

Costs

Blowback from the Afghan jihad

The religious framing of the Afghan war produced militancy, sectarianism and a “Kalashnikov culture” that turned against Pakistan; the Taliban, once seen as friends, now shelter the TTP.

Current reference: Accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the TTP, Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan in October 2025, leading to the deadliest border clashes since 2021 and a ceasefire mediated by Qatar and Turkey. Fighting resumed, and on 27 February 2026 Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared “open war” as Pakistan struck targets including Kabul; clashes and strikes continued into September-October 2026.

International isolation and pressure

Support for non-state actors in Kashmir and Afghanistan brought accusations of sponsoring terrorism, FATF grey-listing (2018-2022) and pressure from major powers.

Lost opportunities

Emotional hostility at times prevented pragmatic engagement, for example, trade with India and Central Asia, which could have benefited Pakistan’s economy.

Unrequited expectations

Muslim states pursue their own interests: several Gulf states have deepened ties with India and some have normalised relations with Israel, showing that ideology alone cannot guarantee support.

5. Critical Evaluation: Has Pakistan Ignored National Interest?

Pakistan has often been pragmatic

Pakistan joined Western pacts in the 1950s, built a close friendship with communist China, stayed neutral in Yemen (2015) and now mediates between the US and Iran, all decisions based on interest, not ideology.

Personality / history: In April 2015, Pakistan’s Parliament unanimously resolved that Pakistan should stay neutral in the Yemen conflict, declining Saudi Arabia’s request for troops, an example of foreign policy decided through parliamentary consensus.

Current reference: After the US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February 2026 and Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistan brokered a ceasefire and hosted the Islamabad Talks (11-12 April 2026), the first direct US-Iran talks in decades, with US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s speaker Ghalibaf; in June the Islamabad Memorandum was signed, though it broke down within about a month and Pakistan remained the main mediator.

Ideology can be part of interest

For a state founded on an idea, identity is itself part of national interest; the problem arises when emotion overrides careful calculation of costs and benefits.

A shift to geo-economics

Pakistan’s first National Security Policy put economic security at the centre, signalling a move from emotional to interest-based foreign policy.

Official report / policy: Pakistan’s first National Security Policy (2022-2026), launched in January 2022, puts economic security at the core of national security and calls for a shift from geopolitics to geo-economics, using Pakistan’s location for connectivity and trade.

6. Way Forward

Pakistan should define its national interest clearly through parliament and national consensus; keep principled positions, Kashmir and Palestine, but pursue them through diplomacy, law and international opinion rather than proxies; build relations with all states, including Muslim states, on mutual economic interest; avoid letting religious or emotional slogans drag it into others’ wars; and make economic security the core of foreign policy, as the Quaid’s vision of friendship towards all suggests.

“Our foreign policy is one of friendliness and goodwill towards all the nations of the world. We do not cherish aggressive designs against any country or nation.”
Quaid-i-Azam, broadcast to the people of the USA, February 1948

Balancing ideology and interest

Emotion over interest: Afghan jihad blowback, isolation
Aligned: Muslim solidarity that brings real support
Interest-led: China, Yemen neutrality, mediation, geo-economics

7. Conclusion

Pakistan gave weight to ideology and emotion in its foreign policy because of its founding identity, the Kashmir cause, its search for allies against India, the needs of its rulers and the feelings of its people. This brought real benefits in the Muslim world, but when emotion replaced calculation, as in the Afghan jihad and support for non-state actors, the costs were severe. The answer is not to abandon ideology, which is part of Pakistan’s identity, but to pursue it through a clear, interest-based strategy: principled on core causes, pragmatic in method and centred on economic security.

Ideology and National Interest: CSS 2022 Solved Answer