Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Following their conquest of Punjab, the British erected an administrative apparatus that \nrelied heavily upon the support of the province’s powerful landed elite. The relationship \nbetween the two was one of mutual benefit, with the British using their landed allies to ensure \nthe maintenance of order and effective economic accumulation in exchange for state patronage. \nOver a century and a half later, the politics of Pakistani Punjab continues to be dominated by \nlandowning politicians, despite significant societal changes that could have potentially eroded \ntheir power. In order to answer the question of why this is so, this thesis uses a historical \ninstitutionalist approach to argue that the administrative framework emerging out of the initial \nbargain between the colonial state and the landed classes gave rise to a path-dependent process \nof institutional development in Punjab that allowed the latter to increasingly entrench \nthemselves within the political order during the colonial and post-colonial periods. In doing so, \nthe landed elite were also able to reinforce their bargain with the colonial state and, after \nindependence, the Pakistani military establishment, perpetuating a relationship that facilitated \nthe pursuit of the interests of the actors involved. \nIn order to account for this path-dependent process of institutional development, this \nthesis treats the initial period of colonial rule in Punjab as a ‘critical juncture’, tracing the factors \nthat led the British to rely on the landed elite for support, and enter into the bargain between the \ntwo actors that drove subsequent institutional developments. The thesis then explores the \nmechanisms used to perpetuate this arrangement over time, focusing in particular on the use, by \nthe state and the landed elite, of legislative interventions, bureaucratic power, and electoral \npolitics, to reinforce and reproduce the institutional framework of politics in Punjab. Finally, the \nthesis also looks at points in time during which this dominant institutional path has been \nchallenged, albeit unsuccessfully, with a view towards understanding both the circumstances \nunder which such challenges can emerge, and the lessons that can be learnt from these episodes \nwith regards to the prospects for the creation of a democratic and participatory politics in the \nprovince.
Author: Hassan Javid
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1674584620