Reading about various ideologies that have and continue to
shape political movements and inspire voting along certain notions of principle
brought my attention to the extent to which principles and belief systems
influence politics in Pakistan both, in terms of party decisions and the voting
patterns of the masses.
In most functional democracies around the world today,
politics, political parties, political workers as well as voters are clearly
demarcated on grounds of perspectives. While the classifications of ‘right’ and
‘left’ are become increasingly redundant, new typologies are emerging and
elections are contested on the basis of different visions that opposing and
conflicting forces see for the future of the country. While the American
Democrats believe in greater taxation and income equality, Republican victories
are harbingers of decreased government, conservative policies and increased
economic incentives through moving to a more free market system of minimal
government intervention and decreased taxation on the rich in order to
stimulate the growth of the economy. The case is similar in many other
progressing democracies of Europe: the national debate is between two or more
groups who hold conflicting opinions on social and economic issues depending on
the ideologies they subscribe to. Keeping typologies and classifications aside,
one common thread is differing policy development plans on the basis of
perspectives. It naturally follows that political parties’ election manifestos
differ markedly and are the basis, at least theoretically, on which they are
able to garner votes from the populace.
In Pakistan, it is observable that the political landscape
is quite different. The 2013 national elections present quite an apt microcosm
of this dynamic. The two major parties contesting the seat of Prime Minister
for their leaders both belonged to similar ideological backgrounds in that they
belong to the ‘right wing.’ Furthermore, their party manifestos with regards to
major economic policies and social change were fairly similar, with only a few
differences. While there were policy contentions on issues such as drone
strikes in the northwest of the nation, the focus of the elections was quite
separate from policy debates. Not a single moderated debate took place between
the leaders of the parties and election rhetoric revolved not around what
solutions they were willing to offer on paper. Similarly, other large parties
such as the PPP and MQM rallied rhetoric other than policy and ideology. With both
belonging to the ‘left wing’ of the political structure, neither invested
election funds or energy into challenging the position of the PTI or PML-N with
regards to how their plan for the nation was flawed. It was interesting to note
that party critique was based on allegations of the past and a questioning of
intention while attempts to garner support for the home party consisted of a
supremely large proportion of emotional appeal wherein the PPP regularly
flashed images of their deceased former leaders and the MQM was focused on
convincing their electorate that their safety was in question with the election
of any other party in their home city of Karachi. Even between the PTI and
PML-N, the determination of success was their perceived ability to deliver on
the promises made in their manifestos and the manner in which they would go
about their job of governing the country instead of what policies they offered.
In Pakistan, a clear decline of ideological politics is
underway. Parties lying on different places in the spectrum are often seen
working together for the same objectives. Parties contesting against each other
argue for the same theoretical solutions. And quite often, policies and
perspectives are flung out of the entire process as the electoral debate
chooses to focus on something entirely different, as if to announce that ideology
was no longer relevant, which some argue that, in such a landscape, it indeed
isn’t.
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