event

The Military and Politics in Pakistan

Thu. April 17th, 2014
Washington, DC

There has only been one peaceful transfer of power in Pakistan since the country gained independence in 1947, and the military has either directly or indirectly ruled for over three decades. This firm grasp on the levers of power has cultivated a hostile relationship between the military and civilian governments, and severely hindered the development of democratic institutions in Pakistan. 

Aqil Shah addressed the critical questions of how Pakistan’s military became so powerful and what its role could mean for the future of the nuclear-armed nation. Carnegie’s Frederic Grare moderated.

Aqil Shah

Aqil Shah is a lecturer in the Department of Politics at Princeton University and author of The Army and Democracy: Military Politics in Pakistan (Harvard University Press, 2014). His research focuses on democratization, civil-military relations, and regional security in South Asia, especially Pakistan. He holds a doctorate from Columbia University and was previously a postdoctoral scholar at the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. 

Frederic Grare

Frederic Grare is senior associate and director of Carnegie’s South Asia Program. He works on India’s Look East policy, on Afghanistan and Pakistan’s regional policies, and on the tension between stability and democratization, including civil-military relations, in Pakistan.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Frederic Grare

Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Program

Frédéric Grare is a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where his research focuses on Indo-Pacific dynamics, the search for a security architecture, and South Asia Security issues.

Aqil Shah

Visiting Scholar, South Asia Program

Aqil Shah was a visiting scholar in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.