PAKISTAN'S EIGHTEENTH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: A TRAJECTORY TOWARDS REGIME CONSOLIDATION

Abstract

The history of Pakistan is marked with events entitiling it as garrison state according to Ishtiaq Ahmed. However, after seven decades of independence, the structure within the state is undergoing through a change conducive for the democracy. Since 2008 General Elections, Pakistan has observed three consecutive civilian governments elected by the gerneral public and has also been successful in surviving those governments. A behavorial democratization pattern can be observed throughout the power pillars of the state that marks an important indicator and implies that the general public is developing a common sense where democratic norms are more acceptable. Among the various indicators for the measurement of the Democratic Consolidation, the normative principles held by the general public and the political elite under the rubric of attitudinal foundations are of fundamental importance. So, a process of Democratic Consolidation can be observed in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to explain the Eighteenth Amendment (one of the landmarks of Pakistan's constitutional history) with the perspective of Democratic Consolidation. What is Eighteenth Amendment and why and how this constitutional Amendment propels the normative confidence of general public is the debate that has been addressed in this study. The dissection of the conceptualization and operationalization of the Eighteenth Amendment reveals a trend prevalent in the society that democracy is the best form of governance that serves in best of their interests. The study finds out that the catalogue of the Eighteenth Amendment is an optimistic factor for the Democratic Consolidation in Pakistan and concludes that despite of all the political and extra-political challenges to the democratic regime, Pakistan is slowly and gradually moving from the electoral democracy to the liberal democracy. The Eighteenth Amendment is the major facilitator in this context and has deep impact on further nurturing of democratic norms and institutions. The statistics mark that the acceptance of the norms of this democratic step in the form of Eighteenth Amendment paves a way towards Democratic Consolidation.