Democracy and the Crisis of Governability in Pakistan

Abstract

Four years have lapsed since democracy returned to Pakistan. For those Pakistanis who had looked to democracy to usher in an era of progress and prosperity in their country, travails of past four years have been far from comforting. The promise of democracy has been mired by its perils and pitfalls. Political problems have spiraled out of control and popular enthusiasm that followed reintroduction of democracy has been replaced with a sense of disillusionment, leading to what Huntington has termed authoritarian nostalgia.' Far from a cure for sociopolitical problems that face Pakistan, advent of democracy has coincided with a steady decay of political institutions, social conflict, and economic stagnation. Since 1988, Pakistan has gone through two general elections and has been governed by three prime ministers, each belonging to a different party. Ethnic violence has escalated, policy making at center and at local levels has become confused, institutional capacities have been stretched to their limits, and economic progress has ground to a standstill. In short, the combination and interaction of low legitimacy and low effectiveness2 have precipitated instability, placing democratic Pakistan in throes of a of that has emerged as a concomitant of democratization process and as single most visible hindrance to its ultimate success. A crisis of governability has been identified as failure of rulers to: maintain coalitional support, initiate