Parliamentary Democracy and the Issue of Institutional Jurisdiction in South Asia (The Case of Pakistan)

Abstract

Normative form of democracy marks the jurisdiction of its various institutions so that no institution could override the powers of others. But in most of the developing countries state institutions (the legislature, executive, judiciary and the military) outstretch their domain and Pakistan is no exception. This paper is an attempt to understand the concept of institutional jurisdiction with in parliamentary democracy. In Pakistan, where democracy has tried to establish after years of military rule, the state institutions remained unable to adhere to their jurisdictions. Although, democratic spirit is revived but efforts to assert more dominance by each institution have undermined the parliamentary spirit and its supremacy. Resultantly, an institutional imbalance and chaos has been observed in the politics of Pakistan. For the purpose the study will observe the period of Pakistan People’s Party (2008-2013). The study is qualitative in nature which is primarily descriptive and exploratory. The historical description will help to gain familiarity with the constant phenomenon of frequent institutional imbalance which is undermining the democratic growth in Pakistan. The qualitative design will also benefit to provide insights into the problems of the politics of Pakistan, constitutional jurisdiction of each institution; the sanctity of parliamentary system and the reasons of frequent interruption.