1. Hybrid Clientelism as Democracy in the Global Indian Ocean
- Author
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Shandana Khan Mohmand
- Abstract
This chapter examines the impact of hybrid clientelism in the context of rural politics in Pakistan. There are two popular claims about Pakistan's politics that are widely accepted: that its military has been omnipresent in its politics, and so its political institutions have remained weak without strong constituencies of their own; and that political parties have assembled in a modular fashion around the local power of large "feudal" landlords and kinship-based networks that organize the vote within communities. Nevertheless, electoral competition has opened up political space for marginalized voters. The Pakistani Punjab thus provides an evocative case through which to examine the impact of the hybrid clientelism that defines much of the Global Indian Ocean. At a time when democracy around the world is experiencing indeterminate fortunes, how voters engage with democratic practice and can build mechanisms to hold elected officials to account from the ground up is crucial. Doing so helps us analyze how democracy functions beyond Western-style liberal orders, in the complex politico-historical landscape of the Global Indian Ocean.
- Published
- 2022
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