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.

Following is the article presented by Dr. Nasik Elahi in the Thinkers Forum USA  Meeting  held on April 27th, 2012. Mr. Zafar Khizer who also has done research on this matter will send his article on this subject.

The Law and Order Crisis in Pakistan

By

Nasik Elahi

Law and order is the essential core of civil society best served by a functioning police force and court system.   In Pakistan, there is a critical failure of this vital function.  And it is having a profound negative impact on democratic progress, economic and social development and the war on terrorism.

The situation in Pakistan is unique in many ways.  Law enforcement has always played a secondary role to national security directed by the army and over the years important principles inherent in civil and criminal law have been subjugated by the security apparatus.   There is an urgent need to redress the balance and enhance the effectiveness and performance of the police and the court system.

The nature of the dysfunctional criminal justice system can be summarized as follows:

• Organizational disconnect:  command and control is handled by federal PSP officers at the top, provincial police civil servants in the middle ranks and a thana culture, of police stations which often function as autonomous centers of torture and disorder seldom answerable to the hierarchy;  the three dominions lack coherence , interactivity and discipline.
• The landlocked court system:  despite the activism of the supreme and high courts, the lower court system is a dysfunctional institution where cases languish for years through manipulations and lack of accountability.
• Political interference and corruption:  police agencies are highly influenced by their political and regional masters.  Choice assignments come at a cost, allegiance and money change hand;  the paybacks are increased corruption.
• Poor professionalism:  a typical policeman in Pakistan is ill-paid, ill-trained and lacks any professional standing.  Nearly 50% of the standing force pulls guard duty for VIPs and their extensive circles of  families and friends.

The Struggle to reform

Pakistan inherited the old British colonial penal system which was designed for control of police function by the imperial authority and not render services to the masses. The legacy has remained despite attempts to change over the years.  Nearly a billion dollars have been spent by both domestic and international efforts over the past decade.  This includes the nearly $250 million by the USG INCLE and Aid to Justice, $450 million loan for Justice Reforms by the Asian Development Bank, the host of training and grants in aid by various countries and budgetary allocations by the various branches of government.

Police Reform was formulated in the 2002 Police Reform Act, modeled after the Japanese system, but many of the critical features of the law were watered down by the Musharraf regime under political pressure.  Provincial governments have instituted police reform packages of their own but they are just as moribund as the federal efforts.

The Challenge

The law and order situation is dire and needs some powerful remedial steps.  There is a momentum of sorts building up for change both inside and outside the country.  The efforts were best summarized by the study of Professor Hassan Abbas in his special report titled Reforming Pakistan’s Law Enforcement Infrastructure, Is it too Flawed to Fix?  for the US Institute of Peace in February 2011.  His recommendations for reform include setting up an agency structure along the lines of US Department of Homeland Security and a more equitable merit based system and capacity building in crucial services such as forensics.

Regrettably,  reorganizations and reforms will only go so far in the densely opaque criminal justice system existing in Pakistan.    The existing bureaucratic powers that be are highly adept at blunting efforts of meaningful change;  reforms are either not enforced or selectively ignored.  The Punjab government has transplanted a mature forensic service program;  it looks great on paper but has no traction in real life because the essential first steps of evidentiary integrity are missing.  To break that cycle the effort at reform has to function in the spotlight of public accountability to meet the desired goals of professionalism, outreach and interagency cooperation.

Crime Watch Pakistan (CWP)

Crime Watch Pakistan is a proposed program to meet the challenge.  CWP is an independent, non-profit, interactive public-private partnership that serves as a bridge between the public, relevant agencies of government viz., law enforcement and court system and social services provided by legal services, NGOs, charitable and human rights organizations.  The goal is to help provide, improve, harmonize and evaluate the levels of service to the citizenry on a sustained basis.   The program gains traction by adapting the best practices of public service recognized around the world into a framework to the unique needs and realities in Pakistan.

The goal of CWP is to establish a nationwide network of community based walk-in centers that provide victims of crime proper guidance to obtain help.  CWP is linked to various agencies through interactive computer and telephonic links.  CWP provides a screening process to handle the complaints, forward them to the appropriate agencies and follow up each referral until its adjudication.  CWP maintains complete logs of acitivity and the data is openly shared with all relevant parties and stakeholders to aid them in their reviews of policies and performance.  The information is also available on an open public CWP website for both public and official comment.   CWP centers also provide public information, education and outreach to local communities, schools and colleges.  The CWP TIPS/Reward Program fosters better and more reliable information exchange for use in civil, criminal and counter-terrorism investigations.

CWP is envisaged as a phased development plan.  Phase I is a pilot programs of 4 to 6 centers in select parts of the country.  Phase II is an expansion of the working modules and protocols to expand the network to both rural and urban areas.  Phase III seeks to create a national grid of self-sustaining centers.  The program needs a budget of $25 million for a five year period for full implementation.

Nasik Elahi, M.Sc., M.S., Ph.D.

Senior Forensic Advisor, NEForensics

Senior Forensic Advisor, USDOJ/ICITAP, US Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan

Adjunct Prof. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY; Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ

Voting Member, ASTM E-30 Forensic Science Committee

Vice Chair/Member, NY Crime Laboratory Advisory Committee (NYCLAC)

Member ASCLD, American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors

Director, Forensic Laboratory, Yonkers PD

Director Quality and Regulatory Compliance, NYC Health Department Laboratories Mr

In today’s world, in my opinion, the dilemma of Indo-Pak quandary is no more a regional affair confined to the subcontinent. After stepping into nuclear age the region with all its problems from economy to corruption, from socio-political to internal conflicts, and from terrorism to regional confrontation, is seriously impacting the whole world. Pakistan’s position is no more strategically geo-political, but is today geo-global. It is no more within the ideological range of regional intellectuals, even as great as Iqbal-Jinnah or Gandhi-Nehru. These great personalities have played their role excellently and to the best interest of the subcontinent of India during the time they were there.

If we view the current situation in our world, aside from the nuclear revolution, the cybernetic revolution has developed more rapidly than mankind could have imagined or foreseen a quarter century ago. With the advent of 21st century we have entered into a super-tech revolution in which not only human physical energy, that is man’s hands and arms having been replaced by machines, but also man’s brain and nervous reactions are now being rapidly replaced by the super-tech machines. Today the whole world is focused as well as involved in the situation developing in the subcontinent. For the world community, it is not a question whether Pakistan or any other country in that region, remains as one country or splits into parts, but the real concern is how this part of the world (Russia, China, Korea, India, Pakistan and now Iran standing in line) equipped with nuclear weapons and threatened with population explosion behaves on this planet. Global importance of Pakistan is such that the first step of Putin’s world tour will be in Pakistan.

I have often shown my concern that there is a famine of intellectuals in the whole world. It is partly on account of the cybernetic revolution which is day by day overpowering our brains and in a way is incapacitating our intellectual approach. Human being’s true intellectual output is the result of his co-natural approach of mind and emotions or to say in general words, heart and mind. I would say, it is time we have to stop viewing Pakistan geo-politically, rather we need to focus on this region as geo-global oscillator.

Zbigniew Brzezinski and Robert Kagan on the State of America

In NYT book Review article the author reviews two books on State of America. Robert Kagan argues “Usefully, Kagan states that much of the current decline talk is based on a “nostalgic fallacy,” imagining a golden past in which America was all but omnipotent. There never was such a time, he says, not even during those periods now remembered as the glory days of American might. Still bathing in the glow of total victory in World War II, the country watched events in China, Korea and Indochina that, Dean Acheson lamented, were “beyond the control of the . . . United States.” In 1952 Douglas MacArthur warned of “our own relative decline.” Indeed, Kagan shows that declinism is as old as America itself: in 1788, Patrick Henry was ruing the Republic’s fall from the days “when the American spirit was in its youth.” Kagan’s message is that America has been gripped by these fears before, only to bounce back: “Anyone who honestly recalls the 1970s, with Watergate, Vietnam, stagflation and the energy crisis, cannot really believe the present difficulties are unrivaled.”

Both argue;

“The two authors agree that it’s in every­one’s interest, not just America’s, for the United States to remain dominant. Kagan frames his essay with a device borrowed from the Frank Capra classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” imagining the world if America were not there to play global superpower. He provides a compelling demonstration that whether it’s protecting the sea lanes vital for free trade or nudging societies toward democracy, the world stands a better chance with America in prime position than it would with China or Russia in the lead. Brzezinski similarly asks us to imagine the Internet if it were under the de facto stewardship of Moscow or Beijing rather than Washington.”

To read the complete article click link below;

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/books/review/zbigniew-brzezinski-and-robert-kagan-on-the-state-of-america.html?adxnnl=1&ref=books&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1333810874-Wcrx+4jtlg0Jiyp3fiamwA