Dirty politics

Published March 13, 2017
The writer is a freelance columnist.
The writer is a freelance columnist.

IMAGINE a situation where you harbour a strong dislike for one of your colleagues. You might try to undercut them through passive-aggressive office politics, or you might try to highlight their shortcomings in front of other colleagues. What most will never think to do is abuse their family in public.

This isn’t because it’s an unnatural or unprecedented action. We learn and regurgitate all kinds of crass behaviour in everyday life. What stops us from acting out our most base and primal emotions are two connected things — a general sense of context-specific propriety (i.e. how to act in particular settings), and a general fear of reprisal from superiors or peers.

If our sense of entitlement is unencumbered by both of these, we’ll be far more primal in our public interactions.


####The framework of entitlement goes a long way in explaining the lurid, misogynistic words of a PML-N MNA.

The framework of entitlement goes a long way in explaining both the lurid, misogynistic words of a PML-N MNA from Sheikhupura and the non-apology that came more than 24 hours later. The person in question knows full well that the immediate cost of abusing a colleague is minimal. At the time of writing at least, the party had said nothing substantial on the issue. There was no immediate reprimand from the top leadership. He bears no occupational cost of his words as a legislator, and since his voters in Sheikhupura city evaluate him on a different criterion altogether, they will not punish him for what he said in Islamabad.

The behaviour exhibited here is not unique to this particular politician. Just in the last few years, there were several major incidents of politicians being accused of acts far more heinous than swearing at a colleague. In Faisalabad three years ago, police booked three sons of a ruling party MNA for his involvement in a gang rape. In the Kasur child abuse scandal, there were frequent reports of protection being offered to the culprits by local politicians. Last month, two armed groups belonging to the ruling party attacked each other during city council proceedings.

These and many more instances point to the entrenchment of violence and criminality in local politics. They also highlight the general sense of entitlement and disregard amongst vast sections of the political elite. Much of this can be traced back to the changing nature of political competition, and an interconnected shift in the social profile of politicians seeking elected office.

Till the 1970s, the limited scope of democratic politics allowed only the colonial-era landed elites to compete for political office. Since then, the country has seen urbanisation, the emergence of new elites, and various bouts of partial democratisation. Elections have been held regularly, and thus political competition has become far more pervasive.

As a result, these last four decades have been marked by cut-throat competition amongst new elites, seeking to displace older ones, and enhance their social and economic position through political power.

A good example of this can be found in Nicolas Martin’s recent study on rural and peri-urban politics in Sargodha. The anthropologist focuses on the processes through which upwardly mobile agro-commercial businessmen have displaced the old landed gentry in local politics. Since they face more competition for power now than the old gentry ever had to face, they resort to all sorts of illegal and criminal tactics to reproduce their privileged positions.

This involves redirecting financial resources for patronage and vote-buying, moulding local state institutions (such as the thana and kutchery) to do their bidding, or relying on outright violence to intimidate and harass opponents and voters. Similar work by Matthew Nelson also confirms the countrywide presence of informal networks based on a nexus between money, criminality, and political power.

What’s important to note here is that this trend of criminality and violence is pervasive enough to not be about a particular set of individuals, or even a party (though the ruling party appears to have more than their share of such characters). Once successful, political entrepreneurs bargain their popularity, their patronage networks, and their ability to win with political parties for greater access and resources. This ensures a self-perpetuating cycle.

The mutual dependence between often-violent politicians and political parties creates a highly disadvantageous situation where local elites operate with an unending sense of entitlement, while party leaders reap benefits off their electoral victories.

Consequently, since in many areas such politicians are crucial for a party’s continued success, the leadership will rarely, if at all, ever discipline them for their transgressions. If one were to venture a guess, there are probably only a few places (such as Lahore), where the ruling party has the autonomy and structure to bench or discipline local elites and not face a political penalty. Everywhere else, the power balance is tipped in the candidate’s favour.

When seen as a set of systemic processes rather than individual sins, the country’s political culture, and hence its democratic future, appears bleak. Is the capture of political office by self-serving (and often criminal) elites a foregone conclusion, especially since we know interventions to ‘clean the system’ from above have not worked?

At this time, the greatest responsibility for cleaning up politics lies with the leadership of all parties in general, and the ruling party in particular. A party leadership that claims to be working for a ‘bright future’ cannot stand silent while those winning on its ticket make a mockery of the legislature and the decorum of public office.

While it may have to face some negative consequences for disciplining local elites, there can be no better time for it to start than the present. Otherwise its inaction towards such gross violations of conduct, not just on this occasion but on so many in the past, suggests active complicity more than passive incompetence.

The writer is a freelance columnist.

umairjaved@lumsalumni.pk

Twitter: @umairjav

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2017

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