Role of political parties in democratic development in Pakistan since 9/11

Abstract:
Political parties are the most important ingredient in a democratic system.In Pakistan whole
political system is based on biradri system and elite. Ideology of any political party is not so
worthy to get votes.at local level ,individuals give vote to candidates which are supported by the
senior member of their families and tribes moreover ,political parties in pakistan are
inherited.particular families own these political parties and serve their personal interests and
interests of a few other people mostly family members and friends based on their loyalties. Intra
party elections are not more than an eye wash.in pakistan’s history it happened for the first time
that an elected government compeleted its tenure and power was shifted to next government
smoothly.this research shows that role of political parties in democratic development is though
imperative yet not appreciative.

Introduction:
Democracy is a culture, not merely a process. In a democratic system, political parties are
considered as an essential ingredient. These parties provides means to people to raise their voice
and plays a role of mediator between executives and civil society.to some extent,these political
parties also provide citizens, a right to defend and protect their rights where as opposition keeps
the ruling party alert about their policies and tries to tilt public opinion in their own favour.
In this research, an attempt is made to shed light on the political structure of parties working in
Pakistan and to highlight the problems of these political parties in addition to their contribution
in development of democracy in Pakistan. In this research we will bring Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP), Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) and MuthidaQaumi
Movement (MQM) under consideration. These all political parties made their governments and
one of them is currently ruling. since the independence, Pakistan has faced three successful
military coups and mostly remained under military rule. Pakistan still do not have a stable
political system and the main reason behind this different types of system.people of pakkistan
are unsure that which type of government is suitable for them Islamic or secular, parlementary or
presidential , democratic or dictator ship. Pakistan’s political history shows a dominance of state
institutions over political parties.these political parties ,mentioned above, provided some
resistence to these military interventions but there efforts were not enough to prevail a
democratic culture in addition to this some small political groups, based on some well known
politicians,were build up or say that nurtured by military dictators. For the first time in 2013 ,an
elected government completed his tenure and a smooth transition of power was made.
In Pakistan ,public anger is strong enough to topple any government either it is an elected
democratic government or a military dictatorship but despite of this basic structure of politics
remained unchanged. Politics in Pakistan is not one which follow ideology or any policy of
political party rather it mostly based on kin ship and tribes.localcheftians and chaudhris play a
key role in politics as well as government.most of our members of national assembly are feudals,
spiritual leaders and business tycoons.that is why government and politics are unable to put
forward the interests and needs of a common person.their policies and actions are based on
interests of our elite class which ultimately form the government.these political parties can be
called as congeries of feudals.Political development in Pakistan is facing the hurdles like
corruption, less focus on needs of people, weakness of institutions, vague policies.

Hypothesis:
Pakistan’s political system is based on kinship and sphere of influence instead of any ideology.

Research questions:
What is the correlation between culture and politics and how do they affect each other?
What is the role of political parties in Pakistan?
Why political parties are unable to change the basic political structure?
How do political parties affect political development in Pakistan?

Objectives:
To shed light on political structure and lack of democratic culture in Pakistan in addition to
problems facing by political parties and leadership in Pakistan.to find out the impacts of these
inherited political parties on people of Pakistan and to explore that the political development is a
stimulus of political stability.

Methodology:
Descriptive method has been used. Source to do research is totally secondary and the data is
collected through different journals, books, articles, lectures, newspapers and research papers.

Literature review:
With out including military it will be incompelete to discuss pakistan’s political system.almost
half of the time, since it came into being, pakistan was ruled by military.after pakistan’s
participation in war on terror it saw an influx of islamic political parties in its political
system.these islamic political parties are further divided into two groups i.e muslim democrats
and islamists.in addition to this more research has been done on economic chaos which is
bringing political instability.on the other hand according to Asif Husain’s research, pakistan’s
problem is more administrative in nature than political.pakistani people are seeking for good
governence ,either from democracy or dictatorship.if they we provide them an option to choose
one from democracy or good governance they will go for good governance.

Theoretical framework:
In every political culture there will be some difference. These political cultures may overlap each
other in some qualities but their overall sum and configuration is different from each other.
Daniel Elazar in his last book “The American Mosaic” presented three kinds of political cultures
out of which we will take “traditionalistic political culture” for this research. Because in Pakistan
biradri system and kinship makes social system which ultimately have deep impacts on local and
national political culture.