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The protests and demonstrations are the basic platforms to talk about the fundamental rights in a democratic society. It is the only way through which people can accomplish their legitimate rights. Pakistan has experienced small or large protests and demonstrations in both civilian and military regimes since its inception. The recent political dharnas (sit-ins) of 2014 and 2019 are observed by the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) and PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) governments respectively. Both dharnas were launched on the same grounds of accusation of rigging in the elections. This study will focus on the causes and features of PTI (2014) and JUI-F (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal) (2019) dharnas in Islamabad. How these political exigencies affect the political stability in Pakistan as well as their repercussions on democracy. Moreover, the military establishment has played a key role in the political history of Pakistan. Thus, this paper will try to find out the response of the military establishment towards these political unrests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent months there has been an effort to reignite debate about the suitability of a federal parliamentary system and argue that it needs to be replaced by a centralized presidential form of government. This has led to sharp reactions from those who favour a continuation of parliamentary government in Pakistan especially with regard to the strong federal provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment (2010) to the Pakistani Constitution, which granted greater autonomy to the provinces and undid many of the changes imposed by military rulers. This paper examines the original version of this debate from Pakistan's experience in the 1950s and 1960s with the aim of identifying and discussing the rationales of those in favor of a presidential Pakistan and the price that the country paid for undermining parliamentary government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In authoritarian states, emerging democracies, and well-established democracies alike, alternative accounts that contest official state narratives are common. Why do people believe such accounts even in the absence of supporting evidence? While this question has been explored in the United States, relatively little research has assessed it in other contexts. Through a survey experiment carried out in Pakistan, this article tests the impact of cues by political parties on belief in such conspiracy theories. The results provide evidence in favor of partisan cueing: When alternative narratives are endorsed by political parties viewed favorably by the respondent, they are more likely to be believed. I suggest that political parties are able to capitalize on misinformation and a lack of trust in official institutions for tactical advantage. Results differ by subgroup: Higher income and urban respondents are swayed more by their own party source than are lower income and rural individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan's progress toward full democracy is dependent upon many variables. One major obstacle to establishment of a mature democracy is widespread corruption, which penetrates deep into the institutions of governance and accountability. Three civilian governments (1958–1971, 1977–1988, 1999–2008) have been overthrown by the military, and three (1988–1990, 1991–1993, 1994–1996) removed by elected presidents on charges of 'public corruption.' The extensive literature on causes of corruption in Pakistan has focused on the most apparent reasons, which include politicized bureaucracy, weak institutions, and incompetent political classes. No attention has been paid to the role of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), a legal framework under which the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been operating since November 1999. This study is the first to highlight the NAO's role in spreading corruption. Rational choice theory and the economics of crime are applied to evaluate Pakistan's anti-corruption law, particularly the settlement system. The study concludes that flaws in the law in an environment where the NAB lacks institutional autonomy result in the benefits of a crime outweighing the costs for an offender. In other words, awareness of gaps in the law increases corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Indian and Pakistani Punjab, this paper focuses on how, despite membership in or conversion to majority religious communities, former untouchables in both countries continue to experience caste-based discrimination. In India, a rights-based idiom for caste politics is limited by fragmentation within the Dalit community and the compromises required by electoral politics, while the imposition of a totalising Islamic identity by the state has resulted in the erasure of caste from the political discourse in Pakistan. This paper suggests that class-based mobilisation may be a better route to Dalit empowerment on both sides of the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In federal systems, upper chamber of the legislature is considered as a representative institution of the smaller units but the evidences suggest that the parliamentary features of federations limit the territorial role of the upper/federal chamber. This is because the relative party discipline in parliamentary democracies and the supremacy of popular house on the second chamber in such federations. Building on this proposition, the paper attempts to determine the territorial character of Pakistani Senate through evaluating its role for pro-autonomy legislation during the debates over 18th constitutional amendment in Pakistan. The evidence demonstrates congruence of opinion between the Senators and the members of National Assembly over certain autonomy issues. Hence, it seems to suggest that the parliamentary nature of the institutions limits the territorial of the Senate of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's political participation is sine qua non of women's empowerment movement. Pakistan is a developing democracy where citizens are given equal political rights without any gender discrimination. The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elected a female as Deputy Speaker for the first time. Report of various organizations on 2013 general elections declared that women's participation in politics have strengthened its roots in Pakistan. Mardan is the 19th largest city of Pakistan and 2nd most populous district of KP Province. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the most affected province of Pakistan in the war against global terrorism nevertheless in the 2013 general elections, the province generally and district Mardan especially witnessed increase in women's political participation. An encouraging number of women casted their votes, contested election, and launched elections campaigns. The research is qualitative and is based on primary and secondary sources. The study explores the changing trends of women's politics in Mardan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that constitutions can play an important role in fostering a degree of political co-operation if they are useful to the political strategies of both rulers and ruled. Viewing Pakistan's constitutional documents as 'strategic constitutions' helps to explain the timing and content of constitutional reform, but also the seemingly contradictory provisions relating to the Constitutions' commitment to Islam. A strategic constitution functions to settle political exigencies rather than committing itself to the task of putting fundamental issues of state to rest. Often, the constitutional domain substitutes for other conventional channels of politics which may be inaccessible, or deliberately sidestepped, in order to achieve particular political goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2013 election in Pakistan was a significant point in a presumed transition from autocracy towards democracy, since for the first time an elected government completed a full term and was replaced by another freely elected government. Pakistan’s hybrid regime, however, continues to be threatened by a significant ‘disloyal opposition’, in the form of secessionists in Balochistan andjihadiIslamists of the Tehrik-e-Taliban (the so-called Pakistan Taliban). Drawing on the literature on hybrid regimes, and using Juan Linz’s framework that focused on both ‘disloyal’ and ‘semi-loyal’ oppositions to democratic rule, this article examines the threat to a continuing movement towards democracy posed by secessionists, Islamists, and the military. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper looks at the concept of political ‘hybridity’ within the broader framework of Pakistan’s domestic politics. Whilst analysing Pakistan’s domestic politics, most analysts tend to view the country’s political system as authoritarian and label it as a military dictatorship. Whilst this has been true for most of Pakistan’s history since it came into existence in 1947, it is also equally important to look at the role played by the more democratic elements of Pakistani society in politics, and the interactions that have taken place between the more democratic forces on the one hand, and the more authoritarian elements on the other. This paper moves away from traditional ways of viewing Pakistan’s domestic politics and focuses more on the grey areas, instead of viewing the country in black or white terms. In doing so, the paper has a strong focus on Ayub Khan’s concept of Basic Democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a recent theoretical perspective and approach in the study of political institutions-'new institutionalism'. The primary aim of the paper is to illustrate the theoretical assumptions of 'new institutionalism' with empirical evidence from Pakistan. The paper illustrates the theoretical assumptions of new institutionalism especially its distinction between formal and informal institutions. New institutionalism is quite distinctive in its emphasis on informal institutions rather than on formal ones. This study delineates such distinction by placing it in the context of political processes and structures in Pakistan. The paper argues that political processes and structures in Pakistan exhibit considerable presence of informal institutions though they often go unnoticed and along with them their influence on democratic governance. We expect that this paper will contribute to the existing literature by focusing on informal institutions, which does not get much attention in academic writings on the political process in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A year after assuming power, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government faced a political crisis fomented by the pro-military opposition leader Imran Khan, who mobilized his supporters to protest alleged electoral rigging in the 2013 poll. Khan had to call off the protests after the Pakistani Taliban's grisly terrorist attack on an army-run school in retaliation for the army's offensive against them in North Waziristan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: I consider structural reforms to democracy in Pakistan using ideas from the analysis of oligopolistic competition and game theory. Successful democracy requires strong, flexible political parties and high-quality, responsible leaders. Parliamentary responsibility for government helps develop strong parties. National parties should be able to nominate candidates in all elections at all levels. For flexibility, members of the National Assembly should be free to form new parties. With federalism, provincial and local democracy also reduce political entry barriers. Approval-voting open-list proportional representation can strengthen democratic leadership in all communities. Runoff elections would allow more flexible party competition in single-seat districts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Federalism approaches a significant transformation in Pakistan in the repercussion of 18th amendment. The amendment produces a facet of loose federalism which is relevant with United States of America (USA) federal model. The paper examines the features of federalism in Pakistan and USA in comparative perspectives in post 18th amendment paradigm and find out its various features. The research concludes that, to accelerate a balanced federalism which is a feature of USA, constitutional transition and democracy will play a vital role in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses some political factors determining budget deficit in Pakistan. It examines the short and long-run relationship between the Budget deficit, democracy and cabinet size for Pakistan's economy. The bounds testing approach to co-integration and (ECM) error-correction models, developed within an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework is applied to annual data for the period 1976 to 2009 in order to investigate whether a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between the budget deficit and these factors. The result of the bounds test indicates that there exist long-run relationship between the budget deficit and political variables. The results provide strong evidence that large government size will significantly add to the budget deficit. The democracy can help in reducing budget deficit but shows a weaker influence in case of Pakistan for the sample period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enduring role of Pakistan's army in both foreign and domestic affairs has long drawn the attention of political scientists. Since its emergence from the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947, Pakistan has suffered four military coups (in 1958, 1969, 1977 and 1999), long periods of political instability and a persistent inability to consolidate democratic institutions. At first glance, Pakistan's inability to sustain a transition to democracy is especially puzzling given that India, which also emerged from the collapse of British rule in South Asia, has experienced only a brief bout of authoritarian rule (1975–77) and has managed to consolidate democracy – even though the quality of its democratic institutions and their performance leaves much to be desired. Many scholars have proffered explanations for Pakistan's failure to make a successful transition to democracy. This essay will argue that all the extant accounts are partial and incomplete. It will contend that the roots of Pakistan's propensity towards authoritarianism must be sought in the ideology, organisation and mobilisation strategy of the movement for the creation of Pakistan. Whereas other recent writing on authoritarianism in Pakistan dwells upon the aggregation of power by the military, this essay focuses upon the failure of civilian democratic institutions to fully abandon authoritarianism even when the military is not in power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article deals with the judicialization of politics in Pakistan under the Supreme Court Chief Justice Choudhry (2009–). Confrontation between the executive and judiciary under him led to speculation about the imminent collapse of the democratic system, given the history of military take-over in the country. The use of judicial review, whereby the Court exercised the power of interpreting the Constitution with impunity, was widely criticized as an attempt to encroach on the territory of the legislature through case law. At the institutional level, the Court sought to exercise veto power over the appointment of judges and to deny the right of oversight to any government agency. The Court's pursuit of public interest litigation through frequent suo motu actions taken in a populist mode led to brinkmanship on the part of the executive and judiciary. Despite this power play, the Court's operations fell into the category of modus operandi, instead of being a fight to the finish. However, the Court's pursuit of judicial reform relating to cheap and speedy justice and accountability of the higher judiciary remained far from satisfactory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion and Empowerment of marginalized are considered as prerequisite of good governance and successful operations of democracy. It is an established fact that weaker section of society, refugees in result of 1947 migration, settlers, minorities and women are pushed to marginalized group by traditional socio-political culture. They are suffering from the social, political and economic marginalization. The issue to empower the marginalized is getting consideration of intelligentsia and forces of democracy. The hypothesis of the study is that local government can be used as an important tool to empower the marginalized. This gross root level study is based on primary data, interviews and direct observations. This study evaluates the role of BDS and LSG in creating inclusive society and empowering the marginalized groups in case of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on an assessment of the performance of women parliamentarians who entered the national legislature in Pakistan on a gender quota. Despite structural and functional barriers women legislators face, they have shown agency in pushing the boundaries of politics by articulating women’s voices and concerns in the functioning and in the legislative business of the parliament. The article argues that in the absence of women’s own power base, descriptive representation through gender quota does not lead to substantive representation. However, linkages of women’s legislators with the women’s movement and networking for collective voice and capacity enhancement may be identified as key milestones in the pathway to women’s political empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]