Pakistan’s 2018 general elections marked the second successful transfer of power from one elected civilian government to another—a remarkable achievement considering the country’s history of dictatorial rule. Pakistan’s Political Parties examines how the civilian side of the state’s current regime has survived the transition to democracy, providing critical insight into the evolution of political parties in Pakistan and their role in developing democracies in general.
Pakistan’s numerous political parties span the ideological spectrum, as well as represent diverse regional, ethnic, and religious constituencies. The essays in this volume explore the way in which these parties both contend and work with Pakistan’s military-bureaucratic establishment to assert and expand their power. Researchers use interviews, surveys, data, and ethnography to illuminate the internal dynamics and motivations of these groups and the mechanisms through which they create policy and influence state and society.
Pakistan’s Political Parties is a one-of-a-kind resource for diplomats, policymakers, journalists, and scholars searching for a comprehensive overview of Pakistan’s party system and its unlikely survival against an interventionist military, with insights that extend far beyond the region.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Pakistan’s Political Parties in an Era of Transitions
Niloufer Siddiqui, Mariam Mufti, and Sahar Shafqat
Part I: The Form of Pakistan’s Party System
1. The Formation, Development, and Decay of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
Saeed Shafqat
2. Pakistan People’s Party: From Populism to Patronage
Philip E. Jones
3. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: From a Movement to a Catch-All Party
Tabinda M. Khan
4. What Remains of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
Tahir Naqvi
5. Leftist Parties in Pakistan: Challenges and Limitations
Anushay Malik
6. Religious Parties: The Politics of Denominational Diversity in an Islamic Republic
Johann Chacko
Part II: The Functions Served by Pakistan’s Party System
7. Who Do Politicians Talk To? Political Contact in Urban Punjab
Asad Liaqat, Ali Cheema, and Shandana Khan Mohmand
8. Candidate-Party Linkages in Pakistan: Why Do Candidates Stick with Losing Parties?
Hassan Javid and Mariam Mufti
9. Women in Electoral Politics: An Account of Exclusion
Sarah Khan
10. Governance amid Crisis: Delegation, Personal Gain, and Service Delivery in Pakistan
Sameen A. Mohsin Ali
11. Opposition Parties and Regime Uncertainty in Pakistan
Sahar Shafqat
Part III: The Survival of Pakistan’s Party System
12. The Kingmaker: Pakistan’s Military and Political Parties
Ayesha Siddiqa
13. Judicial Politics in a Hybrid Democracy: Pakistan’s Judiciary and Political Parties
Yasser Kureshi
14. Parties and Foreign Policy in Pakistan
Christopher Clary
Conclusion: Political Parties in an “Establishmentarian Democracy”
Mohammad Waseem
Appendix: Pakistan Electoral Results, 1988–2018
References
About the Contributors
Reviews
"This is truly an important contribution to the literature on political parties and electoral considerations in Pakistan. There is nothing like it that currently exists."—Charles H. Kennedy, professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations and Director, Middle East and South Asia Program, Wake Forest University
"This is a long overdue, but essential, contribution to our understanding of Pakistan. With an impressive author list, this will become the go-to book on understanding political parties in Pakistan’s hybrid regime."—Katharine Adeney, Director of the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute
"Pakistan’s Political Parties is a timely and vital contribution to the social science literature on political parties in south Asia . . . . It presents an exceptionally lucid and well-crafted analysis of major political parties in Pakistan, their role and functions in a nascent democracy, and the relationship of political parties to other institutions."—Kavita Khory, Professor of Politics, Mount Holyoke College
"This is truly an important contribution to the literature on political parties and electoral considerations in Pakistan. There is nothing like it that currently exists."—Charles Kennedy, professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations and Director, Middle East and South Asia Program, Wake Forest University
"This wonderful book is absolutely indispensable for understanding Pakistan’s democracy, and all of the main actors and interests involved. The various authors manage very effectively to combine deep knowledge of Pakistan’s political parties, social groups, and interests, with the comparative breadth to put everything into broader theoretical perspective."—Steven Wilkinson, Henry R. Luce Director, The Whitney & Betty MacMillan Center for International & Area Studies; Nilekani Professor of India & South Asian Studies; and professor of political science & international affairs, Yale University
"Overall, there is little doubt that Pakistan’s Political Parties marks an important, multi-faceted breakthrough in the study of Pakistan’s politics and the particularities of institutional power and form found within its political sphere. From a readership perspective, the general language, analytical style, and accessibility of the volume make it well suited for both a social science academic audience looking to study Pakistan in a comparative or singular perspective, and to more curious general readers as well."—Bloomsbury Pakistan
"If I were a young diplomat heading to a political-reporting assignment in Pakistan, I would definitely want this volume on my bookshelf. It has the strength one expects from an academic work. Importantly, it conveys the tremendous diversity of Pakistan’s ethnic and religious landscape, and the complexity of all the parties’ relationships with the military."—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy
Contributors
Sameen A. Mohsin Ali Johann Chacko Ali Cheema Christopher Clary Philip E. Jones Hassan Javid Sarah Khan Tabinda M. Khan Yasser Kureshi Asad Liaqat Anushay Malik Shandana Khan Mohmand Mariam Mufti Tahir Naqvi Saeed Shafqat Sahar Shafqat Ayesha Siddiqa Niloufer Siddiqui Mohammad Waseem
About the Author
Mariam Mufti is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Waterloo.
Sahar Shafqat is a professor of political science at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Niloufer Siddiqui is an assistant professor of political science at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at University at Albany, State University of New York.
