New Perspectives on Pakistan's Political Economy
State, Class and Social Change

Makes a major intervention in debates around the nature of the political economy of Pakistan, focusing on its contemporary social dynamics.

Matthew McCartney (Edited by), S. Akbar Zaidi (Edited by)

9781108486552, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 September 2019

286 pages
23.7 x 16 x 2.4 cm, 0.5 kg

This volume makes a major intervention in the debates around the nature of the political economy of Pakistan, focusing on its contemporary social dynamics. This is the first comprehensive academic analysis of Pakistan's political economy after thirty-five years, and addresses issues of state, class and society, examining gender, the middle classes, the media, the bazaar economy, urban spaces and the new elite. The book goes beyond the contemporary obsession with terrorism and extremism, political Islam, and simple 'civilian–military relations', and looks at modern-day Pakistan through the lens of varied academic disciplines. It not only brings together new work by some emerging scholars but also formulates a new political economy for the country, reflecting the contemporary reality and diversification in the social sciences in Pakistan. The chapters dynamically and dialectically capture emergent processes and trends in framing Pakistan's political economy and invite scholars to engage with and move beyond these concerns and issues.

Preface Matthew McCartney and S. Akbar Zaidi
Introduction Matthew McCartney and S. Akbar Zaidi
1. In a desperate state: the social sciences and the overdeveloped state in Pakistan, 1950 to 1983 Matthew McCartney
2. The overdeveloped Alavian legacy Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
3. Institutions matter: the state, the military and social class Aqil Shah
4. Class is dead but faith never dies: women, Islam and Pakistan Afiya Shehrbano Zia
5. The amnesia of genesis Adeem Suhail
6. The political economy of uneven state-spatiality in Pakistan: the interplay of space, class and institutions Danish Khan
7. An evolving class structure? Pakistan's ruling classes and the implications for Pakistan's political economy Rosita Armytage
8. The segmented 'rural elite': agrarian transformation and rural politics in Pakistani Punjab Muhammad Ali Jan
9. Ascending the power structure: bazaar traders in urban Punjab Umair Javed
10. Democracy and patronage in Pakistan Hassan Javid
11. From overdeveloped state to Praetorian Pakistan: tracing the media's transformations Farooq Sulehria
About the contributors
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Economic growth [KCG], International relations [JPS], Political structure & processes [JPH], Political science & theory [JPA], Sociology [JHB]