Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters - Democracy Under Inequality in Rural Pakistan

Looks at voting behaviour in Pakistan to understand how democracy empowers marginalized voters under conditions of inequality.

List of contents

Glossary of local terms; List of tables and figures; 1. Introduction: rural voters under inequality in Pakistan; 2. Colonial constructs and Post-colonial politics: 1849¿2013; 3. Sahiwal: from domination to intermediation; 4. Local competition and bargaining power: conceptualizing political engagement in rural Punjab; 5. Bargaining with landlords: comparing political engagement in unequal contexts; 6. Structural inequality and variations in political engagement; 7. When do shifts in political engagement occur?; 8. Conclusion: the future of Pakistan's democratic transition; Annex 1: chronology of political events in Pakistan; Annex 2: index of political engagement (IPE) scores for 38 villages; Annex 3: research instruments; Annex 4: detailed descriptions of household variables used in multivariate regression analysis; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Shandana Khan Mohmand is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives in Pakistan. Her research and writings explore the fields of political participation, inequality, and the political economy of public policy and service delivery. She has contributed to both policy and social science research in these areas.

Summary

This book looks at why rural Pakistani citizens vote despite their limited political agency owing to high levels of socio-economic inequality. It finds that electoral politics enables marginalized voters to strategically further their interests vis-à-vis elite groups, but that persistent inequality limits their ability to organize or compete.

Product details

• Authors: Shandana Khan Mohmand, Shandana (University of Sussex) Khan Mohmand, Shandana Khan Mohmand, Shandana Khan (University of Sussex) Mohmand
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2018
• EAN: 9781108473637
• ISBN: 978-1-108-47363-7
• No. of pages: 320
• Series: South Asia in the Social Sciences; South Asia in the Social Scien; South Asia in the Social Sciences; South Asia in the Social Scien
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Pakistan, Sociology, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / General, Political structures: democracy, Political structures / systems: democracy