For a country with conflict-orientation, it is natural to have a civil-military convergence and for the establishment to be actively involved in public policy and play its role. The power structure in Pakistan has changed. Several drivers of change including external environment, domestic security and economic situation, and the challenges in its major relationships, Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmad, Director of the School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad said, back the recent democratic transition and transformation in Pakistan.
He was speaking at the launching ceremony of United Kingdom’s Routledge Publications book ‘Pakistan’s Democratic Transition: Change and Persistence’, which he co-edited with Adnan Rafiq, hosted at Hill View Hotel Islamabad by Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), on Saturday December 3, 2016. The book brings together 13 prominent scholars and experts on politics in Pakistan and South Asia.
“There are 13 different perspectives from various scholars around the themes of political economy, democratic transition, foreign policy, and a bit about media with a structural level analysis” said the editor while introducing his book. He also said that there is a popular image attached to Pakistani politics about military domination so this book has been able to go beyond the popular discourse, explore history, linkages between facts, and come up with factual analysis with variable that are more influential in shaping realities. He introduced chapters from other contributors of the book.
Leading Pakistani columnist, diplomat and government advisor Mosharraf Zaidi who was also a keynote speaker at the launch and a contributor to the book, said that to strengthen human capital there is a need to refine democracy because democracy helps human capital formation. If there was a competition between democracies and non-democracies, democracies are slightly ahead in comparison to other systems when it comes to human capital formation. The demographic dividend of Pakistan requires building up capacities of young people. There are 100 million people below the age of 25 in Pakistan and there is a challenge to cultivating and mentoring them at the micro level, failure to do which is an economic challenge.
Head of the independent think tank Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Imtiaz Gul said that judicial intervention has challenged the dominant power structure in Pakistan. Judicial activism has accelerated the processes in Pakistan in an age of crises of integrity, and has put all stakeholders of power at accountability.
The co-editor Adnan Rafiq who is a doctoral candidate at University of Oxford, UK said that “the emergence of an expanded middle-class is increasingly shaping the political power structure in Pakistan”. The indicators of this changing political power structure include increased political participation, indictments, voices against social evils, support to accountability, and social mobility. The changing landscape of political economy in Pakistan makes the idea of another coup not impossible, but certainly more expensive.
The book provides contending views on Pakistan’s current democratic transition. Drawing on history, diverse theoretical perspectives, and empirical evidence, it explains the emerging political trends in the country, including their underlying sources, attributes, constraints, and prospects of sustainability. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian Politics, Political Sociology and Security Studies, as well as policy-makers, diplomats, security experts and military professionals.
About Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS):
CRSS is an independent think tank and training center firmly rooted in research and advocacy, which stands for and advocates fundamental democratic rights. Its diverse portfolio addresses several contemporary issues including rule of law, equal citizenry, counter-radicalization, peace and security and good governance.