11
DEMOCRACIES consolidate when national groups capable of overthrowing it accept Churchill’s observation that democracy is the worst form of governance except all others. Elsewhere, elites usually oppose democracy as it neutralises their powers while middle classes desire it. However, repulsed by the incompetence of elite-dominated Pakistani politics, middle classes have been Pakistan’s most reluctant democrats and most frequent anti-democracy rebels.
Their rebellions have included the 1950s bureaucrat-led conspiracies, martial laws, former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s overzealous anti-corruption crusades and violent and peaceful calls for ‘khilafat’.
These rebellions reflect the naïve notion that a few corrupt families have hijacked politics. Their removal, even unconstitutionally if necessary, will bring immediate improvements in governance. However, governance did not improve significantly even under middle-class dictators.
Pakistani politics reflects Pakistani society. Dynastic politics, rightly loathed by middle classes, reflects dynastic tendencies common throughout society, including business, media, entertainment and religious orders and will disappear once Pakistani society overcomes dynastic tendencies with increasing incomes and literacy.
Pakistanis are on the lookout for a statesperson.
Deprived of the opportunity to gain merit, masses rely on family-based patronage ties with politicians to get along in life based not on what they know but who they know. Improving governance requires not just removing a few corrupt politicians but reordering society.
The shortest route to improving governance lies not in rebelling against democracy but in working patiently with it, developing linkages with lower classes currently co-opted by elites and helping them gain merit through education, income and mobilisation programmes. Unfortunately, middle classes generally see the poor as obstructions and focus on disenfranchising them through degree requirements for running and voting in elections.
The latest sequel to these bureaucratic, military, theocratic and judicial coups is the ‘democratic’ coup launched by Khan and Qadri. Employing democratic rhetoric about agitating peacefully for social justice, they aimed to overthrow an admittedly corrupt, incompetent but elected government even before courts declared elections rigged, and come to power under a technocratic government.
Their tactics reflect typical middle-class disdain for supposedly bookish concepts like constitutionalism. As the two rebels reluctantly agree to work within the system to address their grievances, does their attempted coup represent the last middle-class rebellion? Institutionalised middle-class groups like the military, bureaucracy, judiciary, and media have already grudgingly or willingly accepted democracy.
The military’s unwillingness or inability to launch a coup during this crisis reflects the new benchmarks adopted by it for coups — major attacks by civilians on military privileges and stranglehold on security matters rather than limited policy disagreements. The ‘coup’s’ failure reflects growing middle-class divisions which broke the hitherto unity against Pakistan’s flawed democracy.
However, middle-class grievances about corrupt politicians remain valid. So, will middle classes now look for leadership from the last middle-class rebels, ie, khilafat advocates? This is unlikely given the latter’s vague and austere agenda. They will likely stay with the PTI despite its confrontational tactics.
Pakistanis desire a statesperson. But the confrontational person they saw pacing restlessly on the container rooftop resembled more a villain. Nevertheless, PTI still represents a flicker of hope for change given the limited options available within Pakistan.
In Peshawar, though not in KP villages, I hear people mentioning limited improvements within government institutions which may not be as flashy as PML-N’s grandiose projects but may cause more sustainable development. However, there are limits to how much change the techno-managerial minds running PTI can deliver.
Imran Khan must showcase more recent, relevant exploits in KP governance to recover from the ill-advised dharna. Qadri too should focus on becoming a Martin Luther rather than Lenin and leading social reforms rather than revolutions.
Many argue that the crisis represents a major setback for democracy. True, there may be loss of policy space to the military. Ironically, the policy stances of even incompetent politicians are superior on all issues of disagreements with the supposedly competent military.
However, the crisis has highlighted both the strengths and weaknesses of democracy: paralysing an elected government is easy; dismissing it difficult. Despite temporary setbacks, the longer-term democratic trajectory remains positive. The disorder witnessed in idyllic Islamabad represented the birth pangs of a stronger democracy as Pakistan’s talented middle class accepted the dictates of democracy.
The writer is a political economist.
Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014
