Dreams of a Secular Republic
Elite Alienation in Post-Zia Pakistan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3986344 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (0000-0002-0557-8712, Quaid-i-Azam University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 641-658 |
| Publication date | 2016-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00472336.2016.1193214 |
| OpenAlex | W2438087586 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 19 |
Since the onset of the "war on terror," an apparently irreconcilable "secular-religious" divide has come to the fore in Pakistani society with ostensibly deep historical roots. In this article the "divide" is critically interrogated through an historical-sociological analysis, including detailed interviews with a small sample of both "secularists" and leftists who do not subscribe to the "secular-religious" binary. The article emphasises that substantive social changes have taken place over the past four decades, coeval with the erosion of a relatively insular structure of power dominated by the secular, Westernised successors to the British. The concomitant rise of a "nativised" middle class has both been cause and consequence of the old elite's steady retreat into its private ghettoes. The latter's growing alienation from wider society – including the realm of formal politics – has been accompanied by growing alarmism about the increasingly illiberal and hyper-religious character of the mass of the population. Elite alienation has intensified since 2001, making the "secular-religious" divide a self-fulfilling prophecy. Notwithstanding its protestations, however, the elite remains the major beneficiary of the prevailing structure of power, and a meaningful transformative politics – both secular and responsive to the material deprivations of ordinary people – remains conspicuously absent
Alienation · Body politic · Elite · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Power (physics · Secular education · Secularism · Sociology · Demography · Gender Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Turkey's Politics and Society
Pakistan
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The Sole Spokesman
State and Ideology in the Middle East and Pakistan
Secularizing Islamists?
The Islamic Leviathan
Handbook of Political Theory
Imperialist feminism redux
Formations of the Secular
Islam as Ideology of Tradition and Change
In the shadow of Shari’ah
Separatism Among Indian Muslims
Budgeting for escalation
Democracy and dictatorship in Pakistan
Communists in a Muslim Land
Politics in Pakistan. The Nature and Direction of Change
Secularism, Hermeneutics, and Empire
The State of Islam
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |