The political economy of structural adjustment, crisis of governance and power sector privatisation in Pakistan

• Main Author: Bashir, Amjad
• Published: SOAS, University of London 2007
• Subjects: 320
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.487750

This thesis aims to explain Pakistan's failure to timely and fu~ly implement a series of structural adjustment programmes' during 1980s and 1990s despite that successive government during this period adopted neo-liberal economic policies and agreed to conduct broad-based reforms. In the 1980s, Pakistan failed to adjust because the military government behind initiating neo-liberal market-oriented reforms' was instead truly committed to Islamization of the economy and society. In the 1990s, Pakistan failed to adjust under democratic governments mainly because of their preoccupation with all essential but premature power struggle with anti-reform and anti-democracy' civil-military bureaucracy dominating policy- and decisionmaking system in the country since independence in 1947. Democratic regimes deemed it necessary to conduct broad-based reforms. This resulted in early dismissals of all elected govemments affecting the pace of reforms. In 1999, democracy was I , once again suspended by another n:ilitary government under an often repeated and convenient pretext of overcoming Pakistan's persistent economic crisis, poor governance and institutional malaise caused by incompetent and corrupt democratic regimes since 1988. Subsequently, the economy impressively recovered amidst reforms helped by highly favourable international environment in the aftermaths of unfortunate events of 9/11 in New York that once again turned Pakistan into a frontline state reminiscent of the 1980s. This provided the military regime .vith an opportunity to seek international recognition as well as substantial economic and military aid along with an unprecedented 'debt rescheduling and right-offs.However, economic reforms and recovery is not accompanied by meaningful governance and institutional refomls raising serious doubts about the sustainability of the current progress. Efforts to reforms and privatise electricity power sector began more than two decades ago mainly under the guidance of the World Bank but largely failed to achieve key economic and social welfare objectives due to policy, procedural, governance, institutional failures.