Publication

This report addresses one of the fundamental challenges to stability in Pakistan: sustained democratic rule. It discusses the successful civil society movement of 2007 and 2008 that led to Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf’s ultimate ouster from office, assessing the effects of the movement and the institutional changes triggered by it on Pakistan’s quest for democratic consolidation. It suggests that, while the cyclical pattern of democratic and military rule in Pakistan may not be obsolete just yet, there is much that the government, civil society, media, and the international community can do to strengthen democratic practices there, building on the work that the mass movement began.