Power: frailty, fear, and fall

Though humankind might be born free and inherently frail, they aren't, nevertheless, free from desires to influence others in a bid to mask inherent frailties. That is, the pursuit of power essentially underlies the inherent powerlessness that humans are born with. The inherent frailty, or the Hobbesian state of nature, warrants the need for cooperation, which, if fairly achieved, could bear inclusive outcomes for all and sundry in a socio-political setting. The cooperation and productivity of collective life, however, demand an assent to and a relinquishment of part of their inherent freedom and labour in the name of the social contract, all in favour of individuals and institutions — termed a power structure.

This surrender of public freedom in favour of the empowered isn't free in the truest sense: it is in anticipation of added freedom and strength and a unified sense of being treasured. Whether the surrender of public freedom gets reciprocated in kind depends essentially on the origin of the power structure and the perception of the people manning it. Power, in this respect, could have three facets to flow, exhibit, or exert itself vis-à-vis the subject.

First, the authorisation of institutions and individuals to the assigned extent amounts to legitimate authority, which, courtesy of its potential checks and accountability, responds to public needs. That is, a power structure, individual or group making it to the echelons via fair, legitimate and accountable mechanisms largely responds to the people by whom they are empowered. Of all sources of authorisation, democracy promises a fairer power-sharing mechanism and, with potential checks and informed public participation and trust, makes it sustainably inclusive.

Second, the power structure sourced in brute force, coercion and resource control is essentially deceptive in operational and normative tenets. The illegitimate nature of power operates for power and essentially against the subject; it owes no trust, legitimacy or favour. However, brute force and the naked exhibition of power against the subjects make it self-defeating in the long run. It, for its potential, timely, and sweeping influence, adds to the sense of invincibility, which, in return, prompts its wielder to exercise it in the pursuit of wrongdoings so much that their weight becomes unbearable to sustain. In other words, dictatorial settings suffer from two insecurities: illegitimate mandates and the record of excesses against the subjects — the very frailties that precipitate their collapse.

The third is a combination of the two, or a hybrid. That is, this power structure is democratic in origin and authoritarian in operation. These societies start as democratic political cultures and continue as such unless the ruling system is legitimate. The democratic culture, when derailed in its nascency, provides more fertile, sustainable ground to safely autocratise under the crown. That is, unlike naked dictatorships that openly defy people's well-being, competitive dictatorships or dark democracies cultivate ghost mandates and operate on fear and public ignorance. The dark democracy, for all the rule of fear and democratic façades working as insurance, oversteps open dictatorships in ruthlessness.

Pakistan's power structure has largely remained democratic in theory and dictatorial in practice, with direct coups and hung parliaments forged via contracts largely between the powerful executive institutions and dynastic despots. The successive contractors used force, coercion, deception and fear as their ruling principles so much that they outlived their utility and seemingly became unsustainable for a reason.

That power is anathema to logic and knows no sanity, or intentionally pretends to know no sanity, and even if it knows, it rarely allows it to operate in practice and is rarely something alien in statesmanship. That is, for all the lucrative reasons, power is addictively and paradoxically enslaving for its wielder, rather than the other way around, which, if unchecked for long, outlives its dread.