Executive summary
This policy brief looks at the underlying causes of weak governance and poor interaction between Pakistan’s institutions and its citizens. Factors are broadly organized in three dimensions: structural, including geopolitical position, historical backdrop and social structures; the distribution and exercise of power; and Pakistan’s current state of affairs.
The country’s difficult geography, the strong ethnic identity of its four provinces and its geopolitical relations have posed challenges to the Pakistani state and compelled it to rely on two strategies: guaranteeing national security and promoting Islam as a unifying factor. Consequently, the army comprises a “state within a state” with increasing power over the economy, foreign policy and domestic allocation of resources. Political parties in Pakistan lack internal democracy, relying on patron-client networks to garner votes, and the judiciary plays a subservient role to the military and political class.
Key current trends include increased radicalization and militancy within the country; the negative impact on public opinion of US strategy in the region and the Pakistani government’s alignment with it; the growth of media influence and its sympathy for religious radicals and militants; and the military escalation of the conflict between the state and the Pakistani Taliban, currently manifested in the Swat valley offensive which has displaced over two million people. The complexity of Pakistan’s current political fragility and security crisis must be fully analyzed by the West and international donors. Then they must offer a long-term commitment and wholehearted support to address Pakistan’s most urgent need: to restore a legitimate, democratic Pakistani state.
is a research fellow at the Conflict Research Unit (CRU) of the Clingendael Institute of International Relations. He spent five years in Southeast Asia working as a research associate for a Bangkok-based regional policy research and advocacy organisation. He subsequently joined the European Centre for Conflict Prevention (ECCP) in Utrecht, the Netherlands and afterwards, conducted a review of the Asia Pacific division’s work in complex emergencies for the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome, Italy.
He holds an MSc in Development Studies from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He was lead author of the report Governance Components in Peace Agreements: Fundamental Elements of State and Peace Building? published by the Clingendael Institute in 2009. He has co-authored four books and written many articles on governance and financial regulation.