Democratic Predicament of Pakistan

   

  

 The democratic project in Pakistan has always remained under assault. Popular expression about democratic governments is largely negative. The people of Pakistan forget that the relevance of democracy is directly linked to the socio-economic conditions of a given state. Urbanized middle classes wonder that how a poor and illiterate population can make sensible decisions in the electoral process. They ask: where is theirs representation. They did not understand that their representation lies in the institutional mechanisms of the state functioning. The political class, on the other side, is a transitional class suffering from myopia. It is mainly concerned with power and revolves around this agenda neglecting people’s sufferings.   In Pakistan questions about democracy are glossed over by the quality of public life. The popular expectations inducted by elected governments to deliver services, maintain law and order, promote economic progress and social stability are widespread. The fulfillment of such expectations creates legitimacy for government. The other forms of governments do not require popular legitimacy. They want acceptance based on better performance. Failure to live up to popular impulses has created legitimacy crisis. Ayub’s developmental schemes, Bhutto’s socialism, Zia’s Islamization program  and It should be kept in mind that except Bhutto’s government no one was able to complete its tenure. In that era the distributive effects of economic growth and investment in social projects were effective. It gave people a sense of empowerment. However, during dictatorships bunch of people economically gained more than other classes in Pakistan. In the post military regimes, the structural anomalies embedded by dictators help military to have hold on the politics. These may be ethnic polarization, fragmentation of political parties, corporatism of army and formation of puppetry parties.

   Democracy is an evolutionary system. It does not come in a perfect template. Pakistan has some universal principles like popular sovereignty and representative government. These have to be rooted in the socio-cultural climate of a country. The class character of society and the layers of influence and power are reflected in who usually wields real power.

    During the first phases of democratic development, it is always the aristocratic classes that dominate the electoral process. The urban landscape may have a different set of representatives, for example from Karachi or some urban centers of Punjab. Greater representation of the middle and professional classes increases over election cycle. Within political parties such trends take root. The stability of elected governments also increases with such developments.

    The quality of democracy and its stability has thus depended generally on the growth of the middle class universally, which in our view has expanded and continues to rise. But the middle class in Pakistan sees every phenomenon in negation. It is anti-democracy, anti-Indian, anti-secularism and anti-Socialism. Its economic character makes it achieve more profits and savings. This tendency pushes it closer to the idea of economic freedom and makes it a stakeholder in political stability.