Do Pakistanis
Value Democracy?
By Ahmad Faruqui, PhD
Danville, California
Some say Pakistanis don’t
value democracy, since they have had bad experiences
with it. But others counter by saying that Pakistanis
have had equally bad experiences with military
rule and put a high value on democracy.
A new publication, “Human Beliefs and Values,”
provides valuable new information that should
help settle this debate. The lead author is Ronald
Inglehart, a professor of political science at
the University of Michigan and president of the
World Value Surveys Association. The book is a
cross-cultural sourcebook based on surveys of
82 countries conducted between 1999 and 2002.
In a paper that was published last year in Foreign
Policy, Ronald Inglehart and a co-author observed,
“Democracy has an overwhelmingly positive
image throughout the world. In country after country,
a clear majority of the population describes ‘having
a democratic political system’ as either
‘good’ or ‘very good.’
These results represent a dramatic change from
the 1930s and 1940s, when fascist regimes won
overwhelming mass approval in many societies;
and for many decades, communist regimes had widespread
support. But in the last decade, democracy became
virtually the only political model with global
appeal, no matter what the culture.”
The big question, of course, is where does Pakistan
fit into the global movement toward democracy.
Before reviewing the results for Pakistan, it
is useful to understand the process through which
the results were obtained.
The Pakistani surveys were carried out between
August 15, 2001 and February 28, 2002, about two
years after the military takeover on October 12,
1999. They involved face-to-face interviews in
Urdu with 2,000 people, of whom about half were
men and half were women. The people in the surveys
were spread across all four provinces and stratified
into three groups by age, education and income.
The sample was equally split between rural and
urban areas. Some areas close to the Afghan border
could not be surveyed because they were under
Army control and/or because of the presence of
US troops.
The interviews were conducted by postgraduate
students in sociology at the University of Agriculture
in Faisalabad under the supervision of Dr. Farooq
Tanwir.
They have yielded a complex mosaic of findings,
almost all of which support democracy and oppose
military rule. At the same time, they also show
a good degree of disenchantment with political
parties and a high degree of confidence in the
armed forces.
The respondents were asked to comment on various
statements by expressing their agreement on a
scale that ranged from strongly agree to strongly
disagree. In the summaries presented below, the
figures reported below correspond to those who
agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.
When asked, “Is democracy a good political
system,” 88 percent of Pakistani said it
was a “very good or fairly good” system.
This compares with 93 percent of the respondents
in India and 98 percent in Bangladesh. In fact,
the Pakistani result was almost identical with
the result obtained in the US, which was 89 percent.
When asked to comment on whether democracy, despite
its problems, was better than other political
systems, 82 percent of Pakistanis said yes, compared
with 92 percent of Indians and 98 percent of Bangladeshis.
In response to a question about the efficacy of
army rule, only 4 percent of Pakistanis thought
it was very good or fairly good for Pakistan.
The values for Bangladesh and India were much
higher, with 19 percent agreeing in the former
and 20 percent in the latter. In Turkey, with
a long history of indirect military rule, the
figure was 29 percent.
When asked if it was good to have a strong leader
who does not bother to hold elections or respect
the views of parliament, 34 percent of the Pakistanis
expressed their agreement. The figure for Bangladesh
was much lower, at 12 percent, while that for
India was surprisingly higher, at 59 percent.
Respondents were asked if it was good to have
experts rather than elected government officials
make key decisions. Only 19 percent of Pakistanis
agreed with this proposition, compared with much
higher percentages in Bangladesh (77 percent)
and India (68 percent).
An overwhelming number of Pakistanis, 89 percent,
agreed that the country was run by big interest
groups who looked out for themselves rather than
for the benefit of the people. The corresponding
values for Bangladesh and India were 56 percent
and 66 percent respectively.
It was clear that only a minority, 43 percent
were satisfied with the way the national government
was handling the country’s affairs. It should
be recalled that the survey was done when the
military government had been in power for about
two years. In India, 60 percent said they were
satisfied while in Bangladesh the figure was 76
percent.
Only 8 percent of Pakistan said they were happy
with the country’s political system, compared
with 28 percent of Indians. When asked if they
were satisfied with the way democracy was developing
in the country, 18 percent of Pakistanis agreed
with the statement, compared with 63 percent of
Indians and 77 percent of Bangladeshis.
But the survey also makes it clear that Pakistanis
do not have a lot of confidence in their political
parties, with only 28 percent expressing confidence.
Almost twice as many, 50 percent, expressed their
confidence in the civil services and 86 percent
in the armed forces, presumably in their role
as the guardians of the border.
When asked to specify what they would like to
see happen in the future, only 4 percent of Pakistanis
wanted to have more say in government decision-making
versus 57 percent who wanted improvements in the
law and order situation and 76 percent who wanted
higher economic growth.
The military government is using this last set
of values to stay in power. General Musharraf
claims that the National Security Council will
place a set of checks and balances on his own
power. In an interview with the Singapore Straits
Times last month, he said, “Previously,
there was no check on me. I could get up and decide
among my people: ‘The prime minister is
stupid and sick. OK. Dismiss him.’”
But when asked if Afghanistan’s presidential
elections could create pressure to speed up the
restoration of democracy in Pakistan, General
Musharraf replied: “If we have to learn
democracy from Afghanistan, God save Pakistan.”
One hopes that Musharraf will put his nationalistic
pride aside and listen to what his own people
are saying. Even though they are confident in
the ability of the armed forces to defend the
borders of the country, they don’t want
military rule. They want to rule themselves.
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