Abstract
As the world’s second biggest Muslim country after Indonesia, Pakistan’s major predicament since its inception as an independent state on August 14, 1947 till today is how to deal with issues which deepen the state of social under-development, social stratification and social chaos. Although considered as a neglected field, social development has been dealt in a different manner by various regimes which came to power in Pakistan since August 1947. This paper will examine in detail the predicament of social development in Pakistan and will also attempt to argue why in many Muslim countries, social development is considered as an uphill task and how the ruling elites in these countries accentuated the level of under-development particularly in education, health, communications, economy and politics. Finally, as long as good governance is not ensured along with accountability and the rule of law, one cannot expect any plausible change to ensure social emancipation, empowerment and human development in Pakistan.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbas, H. (2005). Pakistan’s drift into extremism. Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Ahmar, M. (2011a). The challenge of extremism in Pakistan: Are there lessons to be learnt from the experience of Singapore. IPRI Journal, 11(2), 44–63.
Ahmar, M. (2011b). The impact of the war against terror in Pakistan. Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Villanova), XXXV(1), 63–79.
Ahmar, M. (2014). Conflict management & vision for a secular Pakistan a comparative study. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Ahmed, K. (2002). Pakistan: The state in crisis. Lahore: Vanguard Books.
Amin, S. (2012). Europe and the Muslim world: Coexistence or conflict? Karachi: Area Study Center for Europe, University of Karachi.
Choudhury, G. W. (1998). The last days of United Pakistan. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Cohen, S. P. (2005). The idea of Pakistan. Lahore: Vanguard Books.
Cohen, S. P. (Ed.). (2011). The future of Pakistan. Washington DC: Brookings Institution.
Haqqani, H. (2005). Pakistan between mosque and military. Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment.
Jahan, R. (1994). Pakistan failure in national integration. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Jalal, A. (1991). The state of martial rule the origins of Pakistan’s political economy of defense. Lahore: Vanguard Books.
Shah, A. (2014). The army and democracy military politics in Pakistan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press..
Social Policy Development Center. (2010). Social development in Pakistan annual review 2009–10. Social impact of the security crisis. Karachi: Social Policy Development Center.
Social Policy Development Center. (2014a). Social development in Pakistan annual review 2012–13. Karachi: Social Policy Development Center.
Social Policy Development Center. (2014b). Social development in Pakistan annual review 2012–13. Pakistan economy survey, 2013–14. Islamabad: Finance Division, Government of Pakistan.
Zaheer, H. (2001). The separation of East Pakistan the rise and realization of Bengali Muslim Nationalism. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ahmar, M. (2016). The State of Social Development in Pakistan. In: Tiliouine, H., Estes, R. (eds) The State of Social Progress of Islamic Societies. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24774-8_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24774-8_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24772-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24774-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)