Session 8- Move Towards Participant Political Culture?

The culture of the Pakistani people, for the most part of its history, can be defined as parochial. However, with the recent 2013 elections, we see a change in the general culture that prevails, towards a more participant culture.

Inherently, Pakistan has been a country with various different kinds of people who more often than not, hold loyalty towards tribal leaders higher than loyalty towards the nation. They are therefore political puppets that vote not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of their local leaders. Even if someone does try to vote for some other politician, the widespread rigging prevents his vote from actually making much of a difference. Furthermore, with voter turnouts as low as 35.17% in 1997, we see that there has been a general apathy shown by the public towards politics.

With the recent elections however, we see a political culture change. Partly due to growing unrest and partly due to efforts by numerous political parties to increase turnout, Pakistanis are now more interested in politics. The voter turnout in 2013 was recorded at 53.62%, a highest since 1977. These figures along with other studies show that the population, especially the youth, is now more interested in politics and realise the political power that resides within them to bring about change. Since politics has such a huge influence on our lives, positive political culture changes can really help bring about changes in our country for the better.