Military Agency, Politics and the State in Pakistan VI

This book seeks to explain why the military intervenes in Pakistan’s politics. With regard to this core question, it is maintained, theoretically as well as empirically, that the military has intervened in Pakistan’s politics for its own political interests. The military instrumentalizes its political power to maximize its economic interests as an independent actor. Moreover, the present study has, quite contrary to the existing structuralist, legitimist, path-dependent, generalist, instrumentalist and conspiracy works on Pakistan’s politics and the state, posited that it is the military agency- to make things happen-, not structure/culture, which causes a coup/intervention. These conclusions are underpinned by references to both qualitative and quantitative findings, through an in-depth investigation of the case of Pakistan.