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The political history of Pakistan is strongly associated with the international political economy circumstances. Constrained due to the geographical location and her position in the regional political circumstances immediately after the independence, Pakistan opted for an alliance with the United States. The nature of Pakistan's linkages with United States proved to be extremely counterproductive for the process of democratisation and prospects of institution-building. Various US administrations exploited the US-Pakistan's asymmetrical relationships by taking advantage of Pakistani army's alliance in pursuit of their imperialist policies in the Middle East, Cold War with USSR in Afghanistan and recently the War on Terror. Since, the authoritarian regimes continued to rule Pakistan under the auspices of US administrations, Pakistan remained stranded between the status of a complete autocracy and competitive authoritarianism since its independence till date. Pakistan has been one of the major recipients of foreign aid from US and other multilateral aid and development agencies but this aid has primarily been used to consolidate Pakistani army. The continuous inflow of development aid has had a negative rather than positive impact on Pakistan's economy and political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper narrates the history of authoritarianism in the post-independence Pakistan and its effect on the process and prospects of democratisation and the possibilities of institutionalisation of local government reforms. The political history of Pakistan after the independence and other associated contextual factors highly differentiate her contemporary political organisation from other comparable countries in South Asia. For instance, India and Pakistan emerged as independent states from the colonial rule on the same day and both states inherited the almost similar administrative setups from the British rule nonetheless, the subsequent development of democratic credentials and the establishment of local governments as a regular third tier of government in India unequivocally distinguishes her case from that of Pakistan's. Pakistan's six decades of chaotic history has seen frequent changes in government including three major military regimes. The politically centralising factors have led Pakistan to become a security state where the apex twin institution i.e. the civil-military bureaucracy takes the lead in running the government and state's affairs at all levels. In such a context, the process of democratisation has remained precarious at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]