Indeed, 'the most economically dynamic sections of the Pakistani population are those which have to a greater or lesser extent been shaken loose from their traditional cultural patterns and kinship allegiances by mass migration,' he writes. The economy (to which Lieven unfortunately gives very little space) becomes yet another victim of this system. The military, which functions relatively more efficiently than other institutions, has insulated itself against these forces by turning itself into the biggest kinship group of them all, securing itself the largest share of the state's revenues. Little changes whether the country is ruled by a dictator or a democrat, because both have to sit atop and draw support from the same pyramid of kinship networks. The primacy of clan loyalty over civic responsibility has served as a barrier to the development of modern democratic institutions.īoth civilian and authoritarian military governments have been frustrated in their attempts at reform. However, the same forces that ensure Pakistan's stability also impede its progress. This creates a degree of accountability and wealth redistribution since in order to retain the followers' loyalty, leaders have to secure and distribute patronage - and in a country endowed with modest resources and decrepit industry, much of it is stolen from the state. Leaders of kinship networks derive their legitimacy from property ownership and the capacity to provide protection and patronage to followers. It is no doubt corrupt, but this is due less to the absence of values than to the enduring grip of the old ones of loyalty to family and clan.īeneath the chaotic surface, the country is held together by the underlying structures of kinship and patronage which account for its relative stability. It has an abysmally low rate of tax collection, but, at five percent of the GDP, it also has one of the world's highest rates of charitable donations. Its cities are violent, but no more so than those of comparable size in Latin or even North America. Its security is beset by multiple insurgencies but they affect a smaller proportion of its territory than the ones India faces. It is not nearly as unequal as India or Nigeria, or for that matter the United States. But it is also a remarkably resilient one. Lieven, currently a fellow at the New America Foundation, argues that some of the alarmist claims about Pakistan are indeed true - it is a corrupt, chaotic, violent, oppressive and unjust country. In the narrow space 'between the mosque and the military', there is much 'crisis', 'terrorism', 'militancy' and 'global jihad.'īritish author and policy analyst Anatol Lieven's refreshingly understated title 'Pakistan: A Hard Country' eschews emotion for description, which is fitting because the book is a 519-page myth- busting exercise.

It is an 'Insh'allah nation' where people passively wait for Allah. Pakistan is a 'tinderbox', forever on the brink, in the eye of the storm, or descending into chaos. It is almost obligatory these days to subtitle books on Pakistan with some conjunction of 'failed', 'dangerous', 'lawless', 'deadly', 'frightening' or 'tumultuous'. Engagingly written, combining history and profound analysis with reportage from Lieven's extensive travels as a journalist and academic, Pakistan: A Hard Country is both utterly compelling and deeply revealing. Anatol Lieven's book is a magisterial investigation of this highly complex and often poorly understood country: its regions, ethnicities, competing religious traditions, varied social landscapes, deep political tensions, and historical patterns of violence but also its surprising underlying stability, rooted in kinship, patronage, and the power of entrenched local elites. Yet the greatest short-term threat to Pakistan is not Islamist insurgency as such, but the actions of the United States, and the greatest long-term threat is ecological change. With almost 200 million people, a 500,000-man army, nuclear weapons, and a large diaspora in Britain and North America, Pakistan is central to the hopes of jihadis and the fears of their enemies. In the past decade Pakistan has become a country of immense importance to its region, the United States, and the world.

Tariq pyre