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Accepted Paper:
China-Pakistan economic corridor, civil-military relations and democracy in Pakistan
Siegfried O. Wolf (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University)
Paper short abstract:
CPEC is heralded as a game changer for Pakistan's economy. But such a project raises questions regarding security situation. To guarantee a safe environment for CPEC, the army is increasingly absorbing formal power. This development has negative impacts on civilian control and democratic transition.
Paper long abstract:
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion dollar infrastructure investment project, is heralded as a game changer for Pakistan's economy. Being part of a major development initiative led by China, known as 'One Belt, One Road', connecting Asia with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the CPEC has evoked hopes, interests, and spurred geopolitics. However, such a megaproject raises numerous questions, especially regarding the feasibility of its implementation in view of tremendous security challenges. In order to guarantee a secure environment for the CPEC development, the military is increasingly absorbing formal power. This phenomenon significantly impacts the country's civil-military relations and civilian control challenging the process of democratic transition. In order to assess the correlation between CPEC development and quality of democracy, the paper applies the 'Heidelberg Model of Civilian Control' in order to analyse the influence of the military on the decision-making and implementation process vis-à-vis the civilians, understood as the elected representatives of the people. It will be argued that: First, the way that the CPEC is being implemented limits the decision-making power of civilians and makes civilian control over the military more unlikely. Second, since civilian control of the military is interpreted as a prerequisite for democracy, the CPEC development is undermining the latest attempt of democratic transition initiated by the 2013 general elections. Third, to ensure the CPEC development, the military has built-up a parallel governance structure, legally exercising tremendous executive and judicial powers, side-lining the civilian government.
The quality of democracy in South Asia: state of the art, prospects and challenges
Session 1