Making politics work

This indulgence in tribalism has a lot to do with the country’s broader rule of law problem

In his book, In Defense of Politics, Bernard Crick pointed out that democratic politics is the only system of government that allows solutions to be forged for intractable problems that exist between two sides without resorting to violence. Democratic politics gives us a way to live together through the art of compromise. It prevents violence by giving the losing side the chance to fight another day. In a country that has allowed violence to become a central creed of governance throughout its existence, Crick’s argument sounds like a solid case in favour of democratic politics.

However, in Pakistan, politics is not viewed with the same optimism that Crick had. Some of the frustrations that people have with our politics are understandable. The last year has displayed all the features that make people loathe politics: a paralysed parliament in which both the opposition and the government were unwilling to budge; petty political vendettas triumphing over the real issues that this country faces; the PTI’s grandiose promises slowly manifesting themselves as smoke and mirrors. These are legitimate frustrations that the PTI, as the party in power, must focus on solving.

There are, however, much broader issues that need to be addressed if we want this country to view democratic politics as the only method through which it resolves its disagreements going forward. In order to create an enduring system of politics we must first create a system of politics that the people can trust.

To achieve this, we must confront first what Matthew Finder, author of Defending Politics, calls the “bad faith model” of politics. This is the idea entrenched within the minds of the people that politicians are selfish and part of a corrupt process. This conception comes from what Finder calls the “expectation gap”; citizens often have unrealistic expectations with regards to what politicians can achieve.

In the context of Pakistan, how this plays out is aptly described by Adnan Rasool who wrote about how our people have come to believe that parliamentarians are the ones responsible for fixing everything in their locality. However, as Rasool points out, it is not the job of parliamentarians to fix roads, make schools, or ensure proper drainage. Parliamentarians are policymakers and legislators. They are supposed to focus on broad issues that impact an entire province or the country as a whole. Municipal projects do not form a part of their core responsibilities.

This misunderstanding causes many people in Pakistan to be left perpetually disappointed by their political representatives, and hence, distrust politics. Yet, the people cannot be blamed entirely. Some of the blame for this lies on politicians who make grand promises, but the larger problem is rooted in how politics has come to work in Pakistan in which too much power is centralised in the parliamentarians.

The way to solve the “expectation gap” and make a workable democratic politics, which is both responsible and accountable to the people, is to implement a strong local government system throughout the country as envisioned in the Constitution.

Elected local governments are the ones that are supposed to fix roads and schools. They will be the ones directly responsible and accountable to the people if they fail to do so. Through a strong and independent local government system people will be able to get more effective results for issues that plague their locality.

Local governments aren’t just necessary to resolve the “expectation gap”. They can also address another problem in Pakistan’s politics: patronage. Politicians are elected in Pakistan through the dual concept of patronage and kinship. Once in power they are expected to dole out favours and jobs to their voters. Corruption, then, becomes a requirement for staying in power.

This indulgence in tribalism has a lot to do with this country’s broader rule of law problem. Where the law does not grant security, kinship does. Anatole Levine highlights this in his book, Pakistan: A Hard Country. In one exchange, the author is told: “This is a hard country. You need family or tribal links to protect you, so that there are people who will stick with you and sacrifice for you whatever happens.”

To end this romance with tribalism, we must indulge in legal reform that strengthens the rule of law. But a local government system can also play a huge part in curbing patronage-based politics. An independent local government system can dilute the power of large dynastic families, take away the power of false promises from parliamentarians, and increase citizen participation in democratic politics. It will also make sure that parliamentarians are forced to confront the larger issues that plague this country. We need, after all, legislators in parliament, not mayors.

Our current local government system is either non-existent, or, heavily influenced by parliamentarians. Because of our patronage-based system of politics, much of the work that local governments are supposed to perform is usurped by parliamentarians or bureaucrats to be used as a means to satiate those loyal to them. It won’t do just to have local governments; the local government must be independent and answerable only to the people.

One other factor needs to be discussed as a means to strengthen our political process: the creation of new provinces along administrative lines throughout the country. Smaller provinces with local governments will not only make people feel that their votes matter but will also double down on diluting the power of dynastic politicians.

To make our politics work, to make sure that our people come to trust this process rather than the dictatorship model, we must implement the Constitution’s guarantee of local governments. To be sure, in order to implement these steps our elected parliamentarians would have to give up their own power. They would have to put the interests of the people before their own. Yet, our politicians should note that if they fail to make these changes then we will be left with a broken political system in which people will lose trust day by day.

That does not bode well for the country or our politicians in the long run.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.