Civic Culture and Democracy in Pakistan

Abstract

The weakness of democratic practice in Pakistan is explained in many ways. Some observers stress constitutional and electoral provisions among institutional factors said to have undermined responsible and responsive government. Others point to the quality of Pakistan's leadership over most of the country's history, namely, that Pakistan has been let down by unprincipled political figures motivated by raw ambition and material gain. Economic arguments are also advanced to explain the difficulties of societies like Pakistan to realize and sustain democratic institutions. Many commentators also seriously question the compatibility of Islamic doctrines with more liberal conceptions of democracy. Contemporary scholarly inquiry looking for the bases of democratic politics often proposes the importance of an accompanying civil society that is characterized by its numerous and largely autonomous political associations, political tolerance, and a sense of citizenship. The emergence of a viable civil society is seen as furnishing a critical buffer between a state and its people, assuring that the government's role is limited and appropriate. In the area of associational activity, Pakistan does reasonably well. Even during periods of more authoritarian rule, political groups and movements have managed to organize and be heard. But judged by a societal willingness to accept the legitimacy of opposing ideas and forces or agree on a common political identity, Pakistan has in most respects been found wanting. While civil society has not fully or consistently been realized over nearly a half century of independence, societal forces in Pakistan are hardly feeble; society in its primordial forms contests with varying degrees of success against the Pakistani state. In periods of state weakness, moreover, democratic political openings have been grasped. Unlike many other national systems currently involved in a transition from authoritarian to democratic