State, Rule of Law, and Democratic Accountability: Are we asking the right questions?

Only 45 countries in the world were considered free until 1973. By the 1990s, 120 or 60% of the countries had been designated as democracies. The third wave of democratization was coined. Since the 1990s, one out of every five countries that became democracies has reverted to authoritarianism or has seen democratic institutions erode (Fukuyama, 2011). The rise of populist leaders shows that the process is still ongoing globally. What is going on?

There are three important political institutions,

·????????State

·????????Rule of Law

·????????Democratic Accountability

Democracy is the favorite institution of all three in the developing countries including Pakistan. I have written before that the version of democracy in Pakistan is not even liberal which is found in the West. One example is the chief of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, threatening the Aurat March with his danda bardaar fauj. The reason is that democracy itself provides the platform for identity and populist politics. In a weak democracy, there are several ways to stay relevant in politics without achieving any political or economic development.

When a political leader uses the tactics described above to form a government, the situation changes dramatically. The public now expects economic development, if not political. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) never gets due recognition for the 18th amendment because the country does not understand the political development. It is understandable in a developing country. Nonetheless, the economic performance is now on top of the expectations and one can lose the popularity even if they hold on to identity or populist politics. The recent tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is an example of it. The state and rule of law now take the center stage.

Achieving economic performance is impossible without a strong state and rule of law. In fact, achieving economic development does not necessitate democratic accountability. Singapore is ranked 69th on the Democracy Index 2021 and is classified as a hybrid regime. Singapore, on the other hand, is a developed country due to its strong state and rule of law. With a robust state and the rule of law, the United Arab Emirates is also doing well without democratic accountability. A similar attribute may be seen in Russia, China, and other Middle Eastern countries. The intention here is not to exclude democratic accountability. Finland is a developed country, ranking third in the Democracy Index for 2021, with all three institutions playing their roles, as they should. What would happen in successful democracies without a strong state and rule of law? The key point is that economic development is impossible without the other two and the entire focus on democracy does not make any sense at all.?

Indirect taxes, amnesty schemes, low tax collection, blackmailing by traders and religious elements, government sector underperformance, corruption, and many other examples point to Pakistan's low state capacity. The government surrenders to these gangs one by one. Is economic development even conceivable in such a situation? Similarly, take rule of law. Pakistan is ranked 130th out of 139 countries in the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index. You can think of all the concerns associated with the Rule of Law: pending cases, powerful individuals evading punishment, institutions outside the reach of accountability, a feeble police system, and so on. To conclude, both institutions in Pakistan are debilitating. In a democracy, populist politics can assist political leaders in forming governments, but it cannot help in satisfying the public's economic expectations. The essential underpinning for economic growth is absent. At this point, all political parties in Pakistan have failed, and their regimes have ended in utmost humiliation. The next party forms the government, and the cycle continues.

Why do political leaders, then, ignore the state and the rule of law? Because it is a long, arduous journey that demands vision and intelligence to accomplish the desired result. Vision and intelligence are rare qualities, it is not found in our political leadership. For that reason, we never embark on the much-needed journey of building a strong state and rule of law.

Pakistan is in the midst of an existential crisis. We're only a few weeks away from declaring bankruptcy. Few weeks, not even months. It is time to learn from the past. Economic development follows political development, not the other way around. It's time to understand what political development means. Read about politics and good governance instead of spending time on social media which exacerbates the problem of political polarization. To produce a politically aware generation, start teaching the constitution in schools. Ask your political leaders about the reforms needed to fix weak state and rule of law rather than becoming a part of populist and identity politics. If they can't propose a solution to the problem, don't believe their promise of economic prosperity. All three major political parties are extractive in the sense that they are controlled by the elite. It makes parliament and economic institutions extractive meaning that political power is distributed narrowly. Small political parties focusing on the middle and lower classes should be supported. For an inclusive parliament and economic institutions, middle- and lower-class representation in parliament is essential. Evaluate all political leaders' actions in terms of how they will affect the state and the rule of law. Economic development without a strong state and rule of law is just a hoax. Start asking the right questions.