Challenges to State Governance in FATA—‘State-in-Society’ Approach

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter attempts to locate the tribal society within the larger context of Pakistan in order to capture relationship between the Pakistani state and the tribal society (FATA). The chapter analyses challenges to state governance in the perspective of state-in-society approach by assessing Pakistani state capabilities to perform four basic tasks: penetrate society, extract resources, regulate social relationships, and distribute resources in determined ways. The state-in-society model explains the dynamics of actions and reactions of both the state and society in shaping and posing challenges to each other. Within this model, the discussion provides details on the role of tribal society in affecting the central state’s agenda of dominating the former. From the tribal society perspective, the chapter identifies several social forces that are influential in mobilizing the populace hence posing a threat to the state. The analysis of state–society relations in FATA provides a background to determine whether Pakistan is a strong state to dominate tribal society or not? As a point of departure, the chapter argues that state and tribal society relations have historically taken three basic forms: co-optation through tactical concessions, manipulation through public relations, and repression through the deployment of state-centered political administration. The chapter shows that these responses continue to be applied today. This is the context in which recent innovations in state–society relations approaches should be understood. From this perspective, the state-in-society approach represents the State response to extending its governance (authority) by providing additional resources for co-optation and by improving its image in tribal society (FATA). It is not the drastic departure from historical patterns of state–society relations that the state presents it to be.KeywordsState–Society RelationsState interventionLegal ReformsLawsConstitutionState capabilitiesPenetrationExtractionRegulations and distribution of resourcesRegulation of social relationsFormal and informal social forcesStructural violenceSocial movements