Pakistan After Musharraf

The Burden of History

Bibliographic Data

ID6287072
AuthorsŠumit Ganguly (0000-0002-4365-2637, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume19
Issue4
Pages26-31
Publication date2008-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of democracy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-5736 • E-ISSN: 1086-3214
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jod.0.0036
OpenAlexW2066235905
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited4

The origins, structure and ideology of the Pakistani nationalist movement coupled with critical elite choices made in the early years of the republic in large part explain Pakistan's current problems of governance. The Pakistani nationalist movement was woven around the charismatic personality of Mohammed Ali Jinnah but lacked a firm organizational and institutional structure. More to the point, it had little or no internal democracy. Not surprisingly, in the aftermath of the creation of Pakistan, the leadership, especially after Jinnah's early demise, proved singularly incapable of coping with an ethnically and socially diverse state and inept at handling competing demands and priorities. As public order rapidly deteriorated, the military, with the tacit support of the elitist civil service, seized power. Once in power, the military came to relish its privileges and even when it relinquished power it remained primus inter pares . Long periods of military rule led to the steady deterioration of fragile political institutions further undermining the prospects of democracy

Demise · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Elite · Ideology · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Corruption and Economic Development · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub