Regime Types, Regime Transitions, and Religion in Pakistan

Abstract

How does religion shape regime types, and regime transitions, in Muslim-majority states? Focusing on Pakistan, this chapter examines the limited role of religious groups and religious ideas in driving political transitions between military and civilian-led regimes. Since the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan in 1947, civilian-led regimes have been removed in three military coups (1958, 1977, 1999); only one of these (1977) was framed in religious terms. Protesters later helped to oust Pakistan’s military regimes in 1969–1970, 1988, and 2007–2008. Again, these protests stressed nonreligious more than religious demands. Within Pakistan, ostensibly “democratizing” transitions hav..