Pakistan: an ailing democracy

2013

Pakistan's political crises continue to deepen. The country is in the midst of crises that redound negatively to itself and the world. These crises accrue largely from the absence of democracy on Pakistan. Be it the recent ouster of its Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, or the various political convolutions of the state of Pakistan since its inception and founding, the cause(s) can be attributed to the lack of democracy i n Pakistan. This in turn is predicated upon the nature and ideological premise of Pakistan, state formation and state society relations. The question is: What accounts for Pakistan's lack of democracy and the attendant political crises and instability? And given the historical record and its current existential crisis, is there hope for a salubrious democratic future for the country?

International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development, 2013

This research note is interested in analyzing the quality of democracy in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It focuses on the current political state of the nation and how it has developed politically since its origin. Other aspects include the discussion of the democratic and non-democratic aspects of the country, whether it can be called truly democratic and finally, conclude if democracy is the best way forward for Pakistan.

IJSES, 2024

This paper aims to highlight the situation of democracy in Pakistan throughout the years, beginning from its independence. It discusses the role religion has played in its formation and it the years that followed after that. This significant role paved way for the politicians of Pakistan to further use religion as a tool of manipulation in order to gain victory in elections. Moreover, the paper covers the democratic challenges that Pakistan has gone through and the role of Pakistani military in contributing to those challenges. It has been established in this paper that since Pakistan has had such limited opportunities to have a democratic government, thus even today it is facing challenges in maintaining a democratic nature. The general elections of 2024 – and the events that led to it – are a perfect example of those challenges. The delay in the election results and a victory that appeared to be rather forced made the democratic nature of Pakistan seem even more questionable.

This research report highlights the historical background of democracy since Athenian time, its journey from Aristotle to 20th and 21st era. In this report, focus is paid on historical background of Pakistan. Issues of bad democratic governance are highlighted. Causes behind and reasons of it failures are focused. Other aspects include the democratic and non-democratic dimension of Pakistan. Whether it can be called truly democratic and finally, Conclude if democracy in the best way forward for Pakistan. Role of political parties is highlighted; democracy can succeed only if politician’s leaders have strong commitment to democracy in both theory and practice. Key words: Democracy, Security, Political Decay, Weak States, Authoritarianism, Oligarhical Elite, Patrimonialism, Ideology

Futures, 1997

Due to the domination of state institutions over political institutions, Pakistan has not experienced a steady consolidation of democracy over its fifty year history. This is manifest in the lack of roots of constitutionalism, the absence of fully autonomous judiciary, a well developed party system and regularly held fair elections. Recent political developments such as the gradual withdrawal of state institutions particularly the military from the political arena, greater assertiveness of the judiciary, parliaments' curtailment of president powers and rising political consciousness among the people have brightened the chances of survival of democracy in the country. Its further consolidation will depend on the capacity of elected leaders to address the serious problems of ethnic and religious dissensions, financial vulnerability, heavy indebtedness, skyrocketing inflation and serious economic disparities.

independence. It was the time when Pakistani military established its organizational role. Due to this role, people started looking for the solution of political problems under military umbrella.

To talk of the failure of democracy in Pakistan is to imply that success is possible. But what would success look like? .It must involve more than just the holding of elections. So is it possible for true democracy ever to be successful in Pakistan? Three factors make success unlikely, if not impossible; the grip on power exercised by the traditional feudal elite; the way in which the masses see their votes in economic rather than in political terms; the strength of the military's role in society and politics arising from Pakistan's geo-strategic position, which also influences the choices of outside actors.

Dr. DHARMENDRA

The long-standing military rule in Pakistan has given the army an opportunity to make inroads into the entire system of government. Political parties, the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the media-military supporters are present in all sections. Therefore, there is no longer any need for military rebellion to unseat a democratically elected political leader who has differences with the army. Indeed, if former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had completed his term, he would have been the first elected Prime Minister to do so. He was also in a position to be elected for a second consecutive term. Sharif's political career may have ended with disqualification, but the real defeat in Pakistan is that of democracy. The present paper produces the picture of democratic crisis in Pakistan.

The word Democracy comes from tow words demo-cracy is derives from the Greek language demos, means people, cracy, means government. In the continuation of this definition we using the famous quotation of President Abraham Lincoln: “Democracy is government of the people by the people for the people” the government of the people will be serving for the people but unfortunately in this country we have a coup d'état (overthrow, takeover) practice again and again. Why we facing these takeovers have some reasons. As human being we Pakistani are authorized for mistake but some time we have blunder in our history. The political parties have a major thought left and right but in our history we find the establishment and military dictators if we think on Pakistan democratic journey so we come on this conclusion that Pakistan run by the establishment, military and Right wing political parties in different shapes, but the left thought parties run this country like the “salt in food” which we see injustice with democracy. Pakistani establishment formed many alliances like Republican Party, IJI, MMA etc. but in few places establishment organized the political parties according to their need.

Global Political Review, 2018

This article aims to explore what democracy is and what are the key tools for the success of democracy. Democracy is a famous form of government in contemporary world politics. There are few key characteristics of true democracy, for instance; free and fair elections, the role of media, education, judiciary, political parties, and religious tolerance, etc. Pakistan has experienced authoritative and democratic forms of government since independence. Many democratic governments have governed the country but despite that politicians in Pakistan could not provide the basic facilities of life to the general public. Lack of timely, free and fair elections, the gap between political elite and public, martial-laws, civil-military relations, lack of education and awareness in the general public are some key hurdles in the success of democracy. Therefore, for the success of democracy in Pakistan, it is also necessary to improve these tools.