'Challenges of Pakistan’s Governance System', Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre, 19 October 2009
EXCERPT: "This policy brief looks at the underlying causes of weak governance and poor interaction between Pakistan’s institutions and its citizens. Factors are broadly organized in three dimensions: structural, including geopolitical position, historical backdrop and social structures; the distribution and exercise of power; and Pakistan’s current state of affairs. The country’s difficult geography, the strong ethnic identity of its four provinces and its geopolitical relations have posed challenges to the Pakistani state and compelled it to rely on two strategies: guaranteeing national security and promoting Islam as a unifying factor. Consequently, the army comprises a 'state within a state' with increasing power over the economy, foreign policy and domestic allocation of resources. Political parties in Pakistan lack internal democracy, relying on patron-client networks to garner votes, and the judiciary plays a subservient role to the military and political class."
Read the full report.
Related articles:
How Pakistan injustice aids Taliban, The Toronto Star, 20 October 2009
Pakistan’s governance challenges, Council on Foreign Relations, 13 August 2008
Related reports:
Authoritarianism in Pakistan, Hoover Institution, August/September 2009
