Pakistan: Political & Constitutional Engineering

About the Book:

A chronicle of Pakistan's political history that offers concise accounts of the major political events and constitutional issues, the making and the breaking of interim and regular constitutions going back to the establishment of Pakistan in August 1947. The book focuses on Pakistan's challenges of state building and nation building, and the search for a viable participatory political order. It examines political and constitutional engineering by civilian and military-bureaucratic governments to serve their partisan interests, and Pakistan's conflictual politics devoid of the democratic culture and civility. The book also offers insights into the changing patterns of civil-military relations, ascendancy of the military to political power, civilianization of military rule through power-sharing, and the shift from military "rule" to "role". It also examines the internal and external dimensions of the East Pakistan/Bangladesh crisis, national and provincial elections, protest movements including the lawyers movement and the Caretaker governance system in Pakistan.

About the Author:

HASAN ASKARI RIZVI is an Independent Political Analyst who undertook teaching or research assignments at reputed academic institutions: SIPA/Southern Asia Institute, Columbia University, New York; SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C.; ACDIS, University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign; Cooperative Monitoring Center, Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, New Mexico; South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany; and Political Science Department, Punjab University, Lahore. Hasan Askari obtained M.A., and PhD in International Relations/Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA; and M.Phil. In Politics from the University of Leeds, UK. He served as the Caretaker Chief Minister, Punjab, in June-August 2018. The Government of Pakistan awarded him "Sitara-i-Imtiaz" for academic excellence. He has published extensively in national and international newspapers, magazines and professional journals. His books include "Military, State and Society in Pakistan," "Pakistan and the Geostrategic Environment," "The Military and Politics in Pakistan," and "Internal Strife and External Intervention."