Democracy under duress: patronage, class and the Pakistani voter

ABSTRACT

Pakistan’s political landscape has undergone rapid transformation since the 1990s, with the emergence of new actors such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and successive terms of civilian government. However, far from a universal acceptance of democratic norms, politics in Pakistan remains fraught with structural weakness, imbalances of power between civilian governments and the military, and patronage politics. Recent scholarship reviewed here offers invaluable insight into voting, and political institutions in the country, showcasing original data and analysis by political economists and political sociologists. This body of research demonstrates the richness and complexity of a country where political parties, against considerable odds, have acquired institutional coherence and stability, and where citizens in competitive constituencies leverage voting factions for collective benefits. These parties, like many others in the developing world, operate in the context of uneven development and extreme inequality: where, in the absence of universal provision of basic human needs, the foundations of representative democracy remain shaky.

KEYWORDS:

• South Asia
• political parties
• democratisation
• patronage
• clientelism
• development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).