Book launch: Charting the path of a post-crisis state

Dr Maliha Lodhi introduces a compilation of analytical essays.

ISLAMABAD:

“Is there a middle-class moment in Pakistan’s history?” asked Dr Maliha Lodhi at the launch of a book titled “Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State”, a multi-authored publication which she has edited and contributed a chapter to.

In her own words, the book is not about a state in crisis, as the title may imply, but about a country in perpetual crisis, of one kind or the other. She warned readers not to open the book with an expectation to find comprehensive expositions of all the country’s problems.

The book’s launch was convened at The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) in collaboration with the Oxford University Press on Thursday. In the words of ISSI Chairman Tanvir Ahmad Khan, the book is “the need of the hour.”

Explaining the rationale behind the book’s production, Dr Lodhi noted that most of the recent literature on Pakistan, prompted by international interest, has been written by “outsiders” and thus, generally provides an “outsider’s view”. With this book, they wanted to provide an “insider’s” view of Pakistan’s endemic problems and possible paths of resolution by engaging various Pakistani scholars, intellectuals and writers.

“We have been overanalysing what can go wrong with the country. This book also analyses what can go right,” she explained, adding that “the aim was to allow and foster national discourse by providing a very frank picture of the country’s troubles and opportunities.”

She said the book’s contributors, though not always in agreement, were united under one belief -- Pakistan’s problems are not insurmountable and can be solved. To this end, they wanted to provide space for “Pakistani solutions to Pakistani problems.”

She said “outsiders” had given too much attention to the state and not enough to society and its relative stability vis-à-vis its underlying traditional social structures. In her view, it is our society’s underlying resilience that has enabled the country to deny doomsday scenarios till now.

Talking about her own chapter in the book, she argued that electoral politics had failed to keep pace with other major changes in the country, such as rapid urbanisation, shift of economic power, expansion of the middle-class, growth of the media and “a transforming dynamic between state and citizen”. She criticised “patronage-dominated” political systems, geared toward rewarding supporters, “for ignoring issues of real and urgent national importance.”

In his critical review of the book, following Dr Lodhi’s introduction, Khan noted that although the book is oriented toward an optimistic outlook, he did not get the impression that the contributors had deliberately neglected anything that may lead to a more pessimistic view. However, he spent a few minutes criticising Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s views, claiming that her chapter suffered from “a deliberate neglect of historical facts.”

He praised the chapter penned by Dr Lodhi for its “great architecture”. He chided the economic analyses in the book for essentially taking a neo-liberal approach and “suffering from unrelenting faith in the International Monetary Fund’s programmes.”

In his opinion, more radical approaches to economic theorising may be more appropriate for the country’s rural development. He lauded Dr Lodhi for being “a bit more fearless” in her analysis.

He was also full of praise for the hopeful views espoused in the book by Mohsin Hamid, writer of the novel “Moth Smoke”, while simultaneously noting that some of the book’s chapters were “too hopeful, and hope is no substitute for policy.” Happily endorsing the book, he encouraged purchasing it, while making sure to absolve himself from making a sale’s pitch.

In his concluding remarks, ISSI Director General Ashraf Jehangir Qazi lamented that “decision-makers were unlikely to take the book seriously which leads to much despondency.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 01^st, 2011.