This article is written by Dr. Mubarak Ali
Forwarded by Zafar Khizer
Past present: Fall of nations
By Mubarak Ali |
Historians are always trying to understand the process of the rise and fall of nations. Ibn Khaldun, Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee were some of the major thinkers who investigated this complex issue and attempted to understand the historical laws which governed this process of the rise and fall of civilizations and nations. Recently two professors, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson published Why Nations Failed (2012) in which both the authors, after analyzing the history of the Asian, African, Latin American and European nations, developed a theory regarding the causes behind the collapse and failure of nations.
They argue that every nation has some important institutions which are either inclusive or extractive. In case of inclusive institutions, people participate in and share their activities which results in the general well-being of the people. On the other hand, extractive institutions are controlled by the ruling oligarchy and snatch the production and income from the people for their own use and reduce them to poverty which, in turn, makes them more dependent on the ruling classes.
There are often resistance movements against extractive institutions and efforts to replace them by inclusive ones. However, such movements are sometimes successful and sometimes fail to achieve their objectives. In case of England, the turning point in their history was the Glorious Revolution of 1688 which not only empowered the English parliament but also weakened the monarch.
The passing of the Bill of Rights made inclusive institutions powerful and enabled them to reshape society by clipping the wings of the ruling oligarchy. It led to the process of technological development which resulted in the Industrial Revolution. The great Reform Bill of 1832 expanded the franchise and brought changes in the political structure which consequently established a purist society.
Another historical juncture, which changed the character of an extractive institution, was the French Revolution of 1789 which abolished monarchy and feudalism and established equality, liberty and fraternity. Napoleonic wars spread these revolutionary ideas to other countries of Europe which led the movements for democracy which gradually created space for people to represent inclusive institutions. In Japan, the mega restoration of 1868 ended feudalism and introduced the modern political and economic intuitions. These nations took advantage of these important historical junctures and succeeded in expanding their inclusive institutions which led them to industrialization and political and social development.
According to the authors, if extractive institutions remain intact, any political change will fail to restructure society. After the decolonization of many Asian and African countries several so-called revolutions took place but as extractive institutions were not eliminated, they failed to bring any change in society. The authors gave the example of Egypt where the monarchy was replaced by Nasir and his successors Sadat and Hosni Mubarak but as the extractive institutions remained intact, nothing changed in the society.
If we apply this theory to Pakistan, we find that after partition, the ruling oligarchy retained all the extractive institutions of the colonial period and prevented people from forming inclusive institutions. We have experienced both military dictatorship and the democratic form of government without any change in the basic structure. Bureaucracy, army and feudalism remained in power.
The ruling classes defied the principal of rule of law and hampered the establishment of a pluralistic society. The ruling classes missed the opportunity on two occasions to strengthen inclusive institutions: one, just after Partition (1947) when the nation was ready to use its energy for the building of the nation. Sadly, no action was taken to abolish feudalism and change the character of the army and bureaucracy.
The other moment of history was the separation of Bangladesh (1971) when the extractive institutions were weak and could be dissolved by the inclusive ones. Again, the ruling classes lost the opportunity and decided to use these exploitative institutions for their own benefit and privileges. Now we neither have democracy nor a pluralistic society and nor do we have rule of law.
Therefore, it is believed that the Pakistani state has collapsed and is on the brink of being declared a failed state.
No doubt Dr. Mubarak Ali is an intellectual whose views need to be taken seriously. It is an excellent assessment of the situation in Pakistan. I have already commented on Dr. Nasik Ilahi, that feudalism is the major problem in Pakistan. For me it is shocking that feudalism which emerged soon after the Hunter Society evolved into an Agregarian Society, we are still stuck with this pre-historical system.
Mirza
Mr. .Mubarak has no doubt detailed a very accurate picture of reasons behind Pakistan being on the brink of being declared a failed state.Not to take any credit away from him ,I think the audience and readers are saturated with these asesments being made daily in electronic and print media by intellectuals and talk show hosts and guests both.This has been going on for some time now , so now what we need is “solutions”.Personally ,I believe education ,or rather lack of it is our core issue,in addition to many others.Our education has it’s own ruling class now in form of private schools.With common people having no access to these institutes,a whole generation of pseudo educated is being brought up ,who are at a total loss as to which direction to take in order to progress.The time is now ripe for new blood being injected in ,but where from?We are laying to waste our most precious resource.A wide scale reordering of educational system is required,making it the same all over and at par with international standards.The concept and practice of elite,oligarchy,feudalism,ruling class needs to be diminished and eradicated at every level ,which can be achieved only through education being made available and accessible to all.
Saadia’s diagnosis of the problems in Pakistan and the prognosis that EDUCATION is the only solution, represents the voice of the new generation. Yesterday I witnessed Imran Khan’s interview by Hamid Meer and was impressed that he has pledged to spend major part of the budget for education. He detailed out many crash programs for not only raising the level of education in Pakistan but also introducing one and meaningful curriculum throughout the country. I hope the new generation in Pakistan will soon throw out these feudal-captalist-corrupt politicians of the old order just as it is famously been said–perhaps it is Akbar Allahbadi: “purani tehzeeb ke anday hain ganday–enhain aab phaink do bahar gali main.”
The purpose of education is vital. The madrassas are educating millions of students. From their perspective, very successfully. They can field any number of zealots for their misguided agendas. The Pakistani establishment has a dismal record in its education policies for the last decades. Bhutto nationalized education and removed all centers of educational excellence by putting bureaucrats in charge. Zia made the educational agenda Islamic. Musharraf gave his own version of the proverbial kiss of death. With one order he turned barely functioning colleges into universities; colleges that barely had enough resources now had even more bloated vice chanellories added to their overheads. The PPP government has been so busy playing politics that it has made no effective policies in education or otherwise. Education is the one true engine of change against the extractors and it is a very blunt tool in the current Pakistan.