A Critical Analysis of Pakistan’s Political History: From Democracy to Martial Law to Hybrid Regimes

Abstract

This article critically examines the political history of Pakistan, and it focuses on the country’s political journey from democracy to martial laws to hybrid regimes. It also aims to assess the factors that played a role in this political transformation in the country. There is little doubt in asserting that there exists power asymmetry between democratic and non-democratic forces in Pakistan. Pakistan inherited those parts of the subcontinent where law and order took precedence over democracy—for the British Empire. That non-democratic legacy continued after independence in 1947, when Pakistan enacted the Government of India Act 1935—with some amendments—as its interim constitution. The Government of India Act 1935 was a colonial document for the service of the British Empire—not of the people of India. Furthermore, the article analyses recurring features of Pakistan’s constitutional history, including executive supremacy, technical legalism, and the unsteady transition patterns from democracy to authoritarianism, semi-authoritarian rule, and hybrid regimes. This article argues that the military-bureaucratic nexus and weak democratic culture in political parties are factors responsible for the sorry state of political affairs in Pakistan—the delayed constitutional-making process in the first decade, military intervention, institutional imbalance, authoritarian tendencies, and weak democracy. Related to research methodology, secondary sources (books, journals, magazines, etc.) were consulted for the article.