Pakistan's Experiment in Basic Democracies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2908154 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Harry J Friedman (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1960 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 107 |
| Publication date | 1960-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Pacific Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2752939 |
| OpenAlex | W2014564334 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
PAKISTAN HAS LAUNCHED a new system of local government, which it calls but historical examples helped a great deal to shape some of the features of the system. A mixture of elected and appointed representatives to local councils is the most important aspect of the new system, just as it was the keystone of local government several times in the past. A reliance on civil servants for leadership is also characteristic of both the old and the new. Although the guide-lines are drawn (in part, at least) from the slowly evolving forms of representative government in pre-partition British India, the Basic Democracies, with a new name and new inspiration, represent an attempt to express once the desire of Pakistan's people for accelerated development and uncorrupted government. A five-tiered system of councils in both East and West Pakistan is the chief characteristic of the system, although only four are governing bodies.' Tle councils operate at the levels of unions, or groups of villages; tahsils (in West Pakistan) and thanas (in East Pakistan); districts and divisions. Each of the two provinces also has a Development Advisory Council to advise the government on development plans. In urban areas, Town Committees and Union Committees correspond to the Union Councils in the rural areas. The lowest rung of the ladder, but probably the most important, is the Union Council. The union represents a group of villages with a total population usually approximating io,ooo, but varying between 4,0oo and i5,000. Each representative to the council is elected by a constituency of roughly i,000 persons. Because it is impossible to demarcate the population of every village into even thousands, some leeway has been allowed by permitting constituencies to range between 8oo and I,400 persons. Each council thus has between four and fifteen elected members, but usually ten. In addition to those elected there are appointed members, not exceeding more than one-half of the total number of the elected members. Appointees are named by the leading government officer in a district, variously entitled deputy commissioner, district magistrate or district collector in different parts
Development economics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Philippine History and Culture · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 1961 - 2022 (62) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |