Pakistan General Elections 2018: Clear Signs of a Guided Democracy

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajay Darshan Behera
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Military

Pakistan’s general elections held in July 2018 led to the smooth transition of power for the second time from one elected government to another. However, the elections were marred by serious allegations of manipulation of the electoral process by the military. The results were on predicted lines—a hung assembly in which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged with the highest seats. While Imran Khan’s political journey has been a remarkable one, he inherits a country, which has become difficult to govern and faces a very difficult economic situation. Pakistan’s second successful democratic transition shows clear signs of the emergence of a political system in which the military may just be happy with a form of guided democracy—a formal democratic structure maintained and legitimized by elections. Even if Imran Khan has come to power as a result of the manipulation by the military establishment, he cannot be taken for granted in the civil–military equation.

scholarly journals The Military Coups in Shadow of Democratization (A Comparative Study of Turkey and Mauritania)

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
EkramBadr El-din ◽  
Mohamed Dit Dah Ould Cheikh
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
The Military

The current study tries to examine the military coups that have occurred in Turkey and Mauritania. These coups differ from the other coups that occurred in the surrounding countries in the phase of democratization as these coups served as a hindrance to the process of democratization in Turkey and Mauritania. The problem of the study revolves around the analysis of the coups that happened in Turkey and Mauritania in the phase of democratic transition. The research is designed to answer the following question: what are the reasons that prompted the military establishment to intervene in political life in the shadow of the process of democratization in Turkey and Mauritania? The study aims at understanding reasons that pushed the military establishment to intervene in the political life. To discuss this phenomenon and achieve the required results, the analytical descriptive approach is adopted for concluding key results that may contribute to understand reasons that pushed the military establishment to intervene in the political life in Turkey and Mauritania in the aftermath democratization occurred in the two countries. The study concluded that the military establishment in both countries engaged in the political action and became ready to militarily intervene in the case of harming its interests and acquisitions. 

scholarly journals The Limits of Possibilities of Religious Politics: The Case of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik in Pakistani Punjab

2021 ◽  
pp. 003802292110510
Author(s):  
Hassan Javid
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Religious Parties ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Government ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The Military

Historically, despite the tremendous influence exerted by Islam on public life, religious parties and organisations have historically failed to do well at the ballot box, receiving an average of only 6% of votes cast in elections since the 1980s. Focusing on the case of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a new Barelvi political party and social movement that has campaigned on the emotive issue of blasphemy since being formed in 2015, this article argues that the clientelistic, patronage-based nature of democratic politics in Punjab, coupled with factionalism and competition within the religious right, continues to play a role in limiting the electoral prospects of religious parties. Nonetheless, as was seen in the General Elections of 2018 in which the TLP outperformed expectations, there are particular circumstances in which the religious parties are able to make electoral breakthroughs. While the TLP was able to make effective use of populist rhetoric to garner some genuine support for itself, this article argues that the organisations sustained campaign of protests over the issue of blasphemy fed into broader efforts by the military establishment and opposition political parties to destabilise and weaken the government of the PML-N prior to the 2018 elections.

Pakistan’s ‘Mainstreaming’ Jihadis

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-73
Author(s):  
Vinay Kaura ◽  
Aparna Pande
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political System ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Political Survival ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
The Military ◽  
Religious Elements

The emergence of the religious right-wing as a formidable political force in Pakistan seems to be an outcome of direct and indirect patronage of the dominant military over the years. Ever since the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1947, the military establishment has formed a quasi alliance with the conservative religious elements who define a strongly Islamic identity for the country. The alliance has provided Islamism with regional perspectives and encouraged it to exploit the concept of jihad. This trend found its most obvious manifestation through the Afghan War. Due to the centrality of Islam in Pakistan’s national identity, secular leaders and groups find it extremely difficult to create a national consensus against groups that describe themselves as soldiers of Islam. Using two case studies, the article argues that political survival of both the military and the radical Islamist parties is based on their tacit understanding. It contends that without de-radicalisation of jihadis, the efforts to ‘mainstream’ them through the electoral process have huge implications for Pakistan’s political system as well as for prospects of regional peace.

Military moves will not offset Uruguay economic gloom

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Crisis ◽  
Fiscal Deficit ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Government ◽  
Investment Grade ◽  
Rights Issue ◽  
The Military

Subject Military moves and economic gloom. Significance The government has faced a political crisis within the military establishment, connected to an honour tribunal related to crimes committed during the 1973-85 dictatorship. President Tabare Vazquez was forced to dismiss seven army generals in the course of a month. The issue coincided with troubling economic data and deteriorating public accounts that represent a threat for Uruguay’s investment-grade rating, at a time when the governing Frente Amplio (FA) appears to be on the back foot in advance of the October general elections. Impacts The human rights issue united the FA but will have limited electoral traction amid more immediate economic concerns. The fiscal deficit will not allow for stimulus spending. An opposition alliance looks likely to be able to unseat the FA in October, at the very least taking its congressional majority.

A Review of the Electoral Process under Ghana's Fourth Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-377
Author(s):  
Lydia A. Nkansah ◽  
Delali A. Gawu
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Electoral Cycle ◽  
Fourth Republic ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Election Results

There have been seven general elections, under Ghana's Fourth Republic, to elect presidents and members of parliament. There are laws regulating the electoral process and election results have generally been accepted and, in a few cases, challenged through the laid-down process. Elections in Ghana are nonetheless reportedly flawed with irregularities tainting the outcome and creating tensions and sometimes pockets of violence. This article examines the electoral process under Ghana's Fourth Republic, namely the adoption of regulations for each electoral cycle, voters’ registration and the voters’ register, nomination of aspirants, voting, counting of votes and declaration of the results. To ensure the integrity of the electoral process, the laws regulating elections should comply with the dictates of the procedural requirements of the rule of law and the Electoral Commission's actions must be consistent with these laws.

Traversing the Mexican Odyssey: Reflections on Political Change and the Study of Mexican Politics

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-188
Author(s):  
Mark Eric Williams
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Political Change ◽  
The Political ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
New Research ◽  
Mexican Politics

This essay explains how the peculiar properties of Mexico's political system helped shape the approach to the study of Mexican politics. It assesses some of the strengths and limitations of the scholarship this produced, examines the political changes that fueled Mexico's democratic transition, and assesses their implications both for Mexico's recent market reforms and the study of Mexican politics in general. It finds that the demise of single-party rule and fundamental changes in patterns of governance have opened new research avenues, and suggests an emerging research agenda in light of these developments. En este ensayo se explica la manera en que las propiedades peculiares del sistema políítico mexicano ayudaron a configurar el acercamiento al estudio de la políítica mexicana. Se valoran algunas de las ventajas y las desventajas en este enfoque, se examinan los cambios polííticos que influyeron en la transicióón democráática mééxicana y se analizan sus implicaciones en las reformas recientes del mercado y estudio de la políítica mexicana en general. El anáálisis concluye que, debido al cese de influencia del antiguo réégimen del partido oficial y a los cambios fundamentales en los modelos de gobierno, se han abierto nuevas ááreas de investigacióón, proponiendo un nuevo programa de investigacióón que tome en cuenta el giro de los nuevos acontecimientos.

THE LABOUR PARTY AND THE PARLIAMENTARY CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH THE MILITARY DEATH PENALTY, 1919–1930

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN McHUGH
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Military

This is a study of a successful parliamentary campaign led throughout the 1920s by a small group of backbench Labour MPs aimed at abolishing the military death penalty for the offences of cowardice and desertion. It was sustained in the face of opposition from the military establishment, the Conservatives, and finally the House of Lords. The campaigners used the opportunity afforded by the requirement on government to pass, annually, an Army Bill, to challenge the military establishment's insistence that a capital penalty was essential to the maintenance of army discipline. Despite the unwillingness of the 1924 Labour government to confront the military on this issue, the reformers persevered, securing some minor, incremental reform before the coming of the second Labour government in 1929. The new government was prevailed upon by backbench pressure to authorize a free vote in the Commons which approved the abolition of the capital penalty for cowardice and desertion in the Army Act of 1930.

To ‘midwife’ – and abort – a democracy: Mauritania's transition from military rule, 2005–2008

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boubacar N'Diaye
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political System ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

ABSTRACTThe 3 August 2005 military coup was Mauritania's best opportunity to turn the page on decades of the deposed quasi-military regime's destructive politics. This article critically analyses relevant aspects of the transition that ensued in the context of the prevailing models of military withdrawal from politics in Africa. It also examines the challenges that Mauritania's short-lived Third Republic faced. It argues that the transition process did not escape the well-known African military junta leader's proclivity to manipulate transitions to fulfil suddenly awakened self-seeking political ambitions, in violation of solemn promises. While there was no old-fashioned ballot stuffing to decide electoral outcomes, Mauritania's junta leader and his lieutenants spared no effort to keep the military very much involved in politics, and to perpetuate a strong sense of entitlement to political power. Originally designed as an ingenious ‘delayed self-succession’ of sorts, in the end, another coup aborted Mauritania's democratisation process and threw its institutions in a tailspin. This only exacerbated the challenges that have saddled Mauritania's political system and society for decades – unhealthy civil-military relations, a dismal ‘human rights deficit’, terrorism, and a neo-patrimonial, disastrously mismanaged economy.

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