Federalist Solutions to Pakistan's Political Crises - by Sikander Ahmed Shah (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book examines the transformative potential of communal democratic norms in Pakistan's political and economic landscape, advocating for a localized centripetalism model to counter prevailing hegemonic trends and address challenges posed by the existing consociational structure.

Book Synopsis

This book examines the transformative potential of communal democratic norms in Pakistan's political and economic landscape, advocating for a localized centripetalism model to counter prevailing hegemonic trends and address challenges posed by the existing consociational structure.

Review Quotes

"In this wonderfully well-written and meticulously researched book Sikander Shah investigates the intricate dynamics of Pakistan's federal structure and ethno-linguistic political economy. Shah innovatively proposes a communal democratic framework for a more prosperous and egalitarian Pakistan. Definitely worth a read!"

"Shah powerfully historicizes and critiques Pakistan's existing federalism as a way of managing ethnic difference. Drawing comparative lessons from constitutional experiments from across the Global South, he also provocatively suggests a new form of federalism to tackle Pakistan's many interlocked political crises, including regional-ethnic conflict, military overreach, poor local governance, spatial inequality, and the geopolitics of Chinese infrastructural investment."

"This book has a noble aim of advancing democracy in Pakistan. In a post-colonial context, where the ills of governing arrangements have made permanent ruptures in Pakistan's federal political architecture, Shah proposes an alternative: a localized centripetalism federalist system of governance. This proposed system will have in its foundations indigenous and contextually nuanced democratic norms of distributive justice, grassroots democracy, the collective protection of minorities, and multiculturalism which will transform Pakistan into a polity where grass-root decision-making and localized solutions will be possible. In crafting such a framework, Shah tackles significant barriers to democratizing Pakistan, including the historic civil-military asymmetry and more recently, the challenges posed by Chinese economic investment in Pakistan. The book offers a wholesome and critical analysis of democratic deficits in Pakistan. Shah offers practical solutions to solving these deficits yet, his approach emanates from the ambit of moral theory. This book is thus relevant to many disciplines including political science, law, public administration, and policy studies."

About the Author

Sikander Ahmed Shah is founding member of the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan.