11 February 2025
Constitutionally Capturing Pakistan’s Constitutional Courts
In 2024, Pakistan’s parliament passed a constitutional amendment carrying out the most significant restructuring of Pakistan’s superior judiciary in its recent history. This judicial overhaul needs to be analyzed as part of a process of regime realignment. By regime realignment, I mean a ruling authoritarian elite radically altering its supportive political structure and popular bases to expand and extend its hold on power. Based on news sources and conversations with senior lawyers and judges, I will show that this plan for judicial overhaul developed iteratively through a process of intra- and inter-institutional dialogue and conflict that took place during regime realignment. Continue reading >>
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31 October 2024
Courts, Constitutions and Authoritarian Consolidation in Pakistan
In 2024, Pakistan has moved in a decisively authoritarian direction. The civilian and military hybrid ruling coalition that came to power in 2022 is using electoral engineering and constitutional entrenchment to consolidate power in the face of popular discontent and resilient political opposition. This process of electoral and constitutional consolidation does not move forward unimpeded, without resistance, and requires capturing and coordinating state institutions. In this blogpost, I show that formal constitutional safeguards provided little protection against the hybrid regime’s capture and weaponization of electoral monitoring bodies. Continue reading >>
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