Power and Civil Society in Pakistan/edited by Anita M. Weiss and S. Zulfiqar Gilani. Reprint. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2003, xvi, 312 p., ISBN 019-579414-1.

    Contents: Preface. I. Discourse and context of power in civil society in Pakistan: 1. Introduction/Anita M. Weiss and S. Zulfiqar Gilani. 2. Savage capitalism and civil society in Pakistan/Mustapha Kamal Pasha. II. Social foundations of power in Pakistan: 3. Personal and social power in Pakistan/S. Zulfiqar Gilani. 4. Gendered power relations: perpetuation and renegotiation/Anita M. Weiss. III. Political, economic and legal power structures: 5. Business and power in Pakistan/Imran Anwar Ali. 6. Politics of power and its economic imperatives: Pakistan, 1947-99/Shahid Javed Burki. 7. An uncivil society: the role of shadow privatization, conflict and ideology in the Governance of Pakistan/Omar Noman. 8. The Military/Hasan-Askari Rizvi. IV. New contenders and issues in power negotiations: 9. Power configurations in public and private arenas: the women’s movement’s response/Farzana Bari and Saba Gul Khattak. 10. Microfinance in Pakistan: perpetuation of power or a viable avenue for empowerment?/Lynn Renken. 11. Critical engagements: NGOs and the state/Omar Asghar Khan. Index.

    "Pakistani society is gripped today by a number of fundamental crises that have created extreme distortions in state and society. There is a dramatic increase in the perception, and tendency, that it is necessary and acceptable to attain power by any means. This has contributed significantly to a sense of uncertainty and social chaos. There is a surface conformity amid growing cynicism and skepticism, about the legitimacy of authority. The social aspects underpinning these problems have been largely ignored, as has the relationship between such problems and the delayed emergence of a vibrant, effective, civil society.

    This volume seeks to create a baseline understanding of the historic relations between traditional structures of power and authority. More importantly, it grapples with the causes behind the disintegration of a consensus within Pakistani civil society, and questions if indeed one ever existed. Focusing on shifting power relationships in various social domains, this volume examines changing power dynamics and their effect on existing local social contracts and the emergence of alternative contracts between peoples. The purpose is not to criticize but to contribute to the rebuilding of a pluralistic, confident and culturally rich society, with the ultimate objective of reconceptualizing Pakistan’s development priorities." (jacket)

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