The debate on civil-military relations usually refer to the civil-military balance in the internal politics of a state. In such debates the role of the armed forces along with the performance of civilian politicians has remained under discussion. A perplexing working limit between the officers of armed forces and civilian authorities, particularly in states of third world has remained an interesting area for writers. Intellectual communities around the globe tried to analytically study the changing patterns of civil military relations in different parts of the world. Major focus of such writings communities generally remained restricted to the third world because the advanced societal and improved political attributes of the developed world have successfully reduced their civil-military differences. Furthermore, the developed nations are reluctant in highlighting their civil-military imbalances, this is why the authors from different countries put less emphasis on the states of first world and concentrate on third world countries. The book under review is an addition to the literature on the disturbing civil-military matrix, it is an effort of a Pakistani author, Aqil Shah residing in the United States. He is a lecturer in the department of politics at Princeton University and a non-resident scholar in the South Asian program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also served in the United Nations as an advisor in the Asia-Pacific Governance program. Aqil Shah has worked as a senior analyst in the South Asia office of International Crisis Group. Moreover, he was a visiting scholar at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi.
In his book The Army and Democracy he attempts to provide a glimpse of civil-military ties in Pakistani politics and adopts a critical approach while examining the role of army in politics of Pakistan. He endeavours to examine the political struggle between Islamabad and Rawalpindi and suggests restructuring or redefining the role of institutions. The quest to legitimate his thinking compels him to look towards Pakistan through a critical lens, which is not a ground-breaking work.
The writer starts from the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 and examines various dimensions of Islamabad’s politics. He analyses the extent of internal and external threats to Pakistan along with Islamabad’s perception of such threats. The book consists of seven chapters besides few pages of brief introduction and a short conclusion in the end. Each chapter covers a separate topic while revolving around the main theme of Shah’s study. The Abbottabad operation which killed Osama Bin Laden in 2001 initiates the discussion in the book from the preface. In the opening part of his book, this American based writer confidently claims the direct and indirect presence of Pakistan military in politics which is an undeniable factor of Islamabad’s political history, according to him. By providing a preview of his thoughts in the book, the writer divides the role of military in Pakistani politics by highlighting three reasons which are “the war-prone conflict with India, the jihadi threat, and the security of its nuclear weapons” (p. x).
There are some assumptions which are the central theme of his study. He thinks the imbalance between civil and military spheres has deteriorated the scope of security, survival, and development in the country (p. 02). Additionally, he declares the military is significantly a gravitational point in Islamabad’s politics which “ensures the survival and stability of the country through a tripartite defence policy: conventional forces, nuclear deterrence, and asymmetric jihadi warfare” (p. 22). Moreover, the arguments in the book revolve around the topics: military as an institution of the state, controlling coercion related to the tug of war between civilian leaders and military officers, historical role of military influence in politics, and the push and pull factor. By speaking on these points the writer gives a review of literatures that support his position.
A historical reflection starts from first chapter Waging War, Building a Nation. The subsequent chapters continue the critical account of Aqil Shah by exaggerating the loopholes of Pakistan’s political system. Chapter two Marching Toward Martial Law speaks about Pakistan’s role during the Cold War era when our political leaders decided to stay in American camp in opposition to the expanding communist forces supported by Soviet Union. After discussing the role of the military in the initial days of Pakistan in the post-1947 environment, the conversation on Ayub Khan’s era and the period of high tensions with India comes under chapter three Revolution to Revolt. The political development after the tragedy of East Pakistan moves the discussion in chapter four Recapturing the State, and further history of the country is covered in chapter five From Zia to Musharraf. The last two chapters talk about Musharraf’s era and the post-Musharraf progress in the country. In this way, the book completes Pakistan’s history by concentrating on the roles of civil and military regimes.
The most interesting part of Shah’s research comes in chapters fifth and sixth that examine Pakistani politics from Zia to Musharraf that altered the internal structure of the state parallel to rationally defining the external threats to the country. The unfortunate dimension of the book is that it merely ignores the appreciable improvements during both military regimes. Beyond the two chapters about the periods of Zia and Musharraf, the other chapters fail to balance the main theme of the book. No doubt, every chapter continues the main story of the book by providing a different dimension, but one thing is common in all chapters i.e. the lack of rational analysis based on impartial and unbiased arguments. The problems in civil-military spheres is unexceptional in Pakistan. As a part of the third world, Pakistan is a state which is trying hard to overcome its problems while passing through a difficult and challenging phase. Such situation has been recognised by various other authors prior to Shah’s study.
The number of authors writing on South Asian political culture after the British colonial retreat overtly accept the difficulties Pakistan is facing, equivalent to the writers critically examining Pakistan’s position in the South Asian region. Aqil Shah’s The Army and Democracy stays in critical camp of international intellectual community, because the way he is investigating the political culture of Islamabad while residing in United States reflects a particular dimension of studying Pakistan. Such dimension has been adopted by various other authors intentionally (or intentionally) who fail to consider the positive improvement in Pakistan’s struggle in defeating the American-sponsored Afghan war for defeating the Soviet Union at the end of Cold War. Furthermore, the critical circles of international community also remain reluctant in acknowledging Islamabad’s efforts in fighting the American sponsored global war on terror. In this way, Aqil Shah’s work attempts to follow a traditional critical overview of Pakistani politics with reference to civil-military imbalances.
Aqil Shah’s study follows a chronological order while mainly focusing on the role of Pakistan’s military in Islamabad. It is also a study of the military’s origin, its evolution and institutional development. In this way, the writer explains Pakistan’s history, its foreign policy, its internal and external threats, and various approaches adopted by different regimes by specifically focusing the civil-military interaction. He tries to articulates an ambiguous status of Pakistan between civilian leaders and military officers. In order to justify his arguments Aqil Shah divides the history of Pakistan in civil and military regime where both regimes struggled for power, according to his observation. In order to provide a valid ground for his arguments, the writer shows his reliance more on primary sources which consist of archival evidences. Additionally, he mentions numerous interviews of civil and military authorities in his book.
It is a critical study which particularly points out the faults of Pakistan’s political system with reference to a disturbed civil-military cooperation. Instead of creating a balanced approach appreciating the landmark developments in social, political, and economic sectors during military rule, the writer has restricted his study to the specific point. So, it is an appropriate study to understand the decades-long political struggle between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The author remains less reluctant in underlining the political upheavals of Islamabad which is partially a one-sided story. In this way, the book comprises of a less interesting and a more prejudiced way of the study of Pakistan’s political evolution. The author neither produces any updated or new information nor has introduced an improved or modernized theoretical dimension on civil-military relations. This book fails to follow a non-traditional way of analysing Pakistan’s political crisis.
