Under the Gun
Political Parties and Violence in Pakistan

The book draws on Pakistan's experience to explore why and when political parties engage in violence or ally with militant actors.

Niloufer A. Siddiqui (Author)

9781009242523, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 November 2022

300 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.58 kg

'Under the Gun is an exceptional book. With great creativity and sophistication, Niloufer Siddiqui advances a novel argument about why and how political parties engage in violence. She persuasively supports her claims by deftly weaving together different kinds of evidence. Along the way, the book showcases an intimate understanding of Pakistan's politics. Under the Gun is readable yet erudite and makes an invaluable contribution to the study of political violence.' Adam Ziegfeld, Temple University

Political parties are integral to democracy and yet they frequently engage in anti-democratic, violent behaviour. Parties can employ violence directly, outsource violence to gangs and militias, or form electoral alliances with non-state armed actors. When do parties engage in, or facilitate, violence? What determines the strategies of violence that they employ? Drawing on data from Pakistan, Under the Gun argues that party violence is not a simple manifestation of weak state capacity but instead the intentional product of political incentives, further complicating the process of democratization. Using a rigorous multi-method approach based on over a hundred interviews and numerous surveys, the book demonstrates that a party's violence strategy depends on the incentives it faces in the subnational political landscape in which it operates, the cost it incurs from its voters for violent acts, and its organizational capacity for violence.

1. Introduction: violence amid democracy
2. The logic of party violence
3. Setting the stage: violence, state capacity, and political representation in Pakistan
4. Who owns the guns? The Muttahida Qaumi Movement and violence in Karachi
5. The Pakistan People's Party and the gangs of Lyari, Karachi
6. Allying with militants: the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and sectarian groups in Punjab
7. An ideology of non-violence? The Awami National Party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
8. Party violence in comparative perspective
9. Conclusion: democracy amid violence.

Subject Areas: Political parties [JPL], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Political ideologies [JPF], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]