Articles by S Akbar Zaidi

Structural developments over the last decade in Pakistan have resulted in numerous substantive transformations, which have altered social relations and societal structures. There are many reasons for this change such as capital inflows, globalisation, the media boom and trends in women's education. There is a need to interpret and further explore such developments to examine and understand what, if anything, they mean for political transitions and transformations.

Besides being the biggest tribute to Benazir Bhutto, working towards "democracy as revenge" makes good sense in Pakistan. It can be achieved either through the ballot box or by boycotting the elections. Abstaining from voting may well be the best way to further democratise the political process. But both the main parties - Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League and the Pakistan People's Party - have decided to contest the polls. The chances of the election resulting in a compromise and legitimising the position of Pervez Musharraf cannot be ruled out.

The media in Pakistan has recently been dominated by current political issues such as those concerning the dismissal and subsequent reinstatement of the chief justice, the actions of president Musharraf, and the plans of Benazir Bhutto. The intrusion of politics into the daily lives of people has also drawn researchers and academics towards writing profusely on contemporary issues in newspaper columns. This may raise the standard of the newspapers, but it pushes out reflection on substantive issues such as the role of the military in government.

Military rule in Pakistan has had long spells because the army has learnt how to be repressive and yet accommodative, target only the marginalised and minority groups, buy off support from political groups and, in Musharraf's case, make use of the US fear of "Islamic" power.

The classical and western understanding of civil society suggests that by being "against the state" in some way, and especially by being against an autocratic and undemocratic state, civil society is necessarily on the side of some form of democratic disposition. Not so in Pakistan, where the question has not been one of democracy versus non-democratic norms, but of "liberalism" against the perceived and variously interpreted Islamic symbols and values.