Re-Conceptualizing Processes of Post-Colonial Development in Pakistan: The Interplay of Institutions and Class

Abstract

The processes of post-colonial development produce winners and losers in a society. It is illustrated in this paper that processes of post-colonial development are embedded with conflict across class lines. For an empirical case study, this paper focuses on the processes of economic development in Pakistan. The entry point of our analyses is the dynamic interplay of class processes and post-colonial state in mediating development outcomes. This paper periodizes postcolonial development of Pakistan into five distinct regimes of growth and distribution. Each regime of growth and distribution produced its own unique set of economic crises and class conflicts. Contingent on multiplicity of political economic factors, an old regime was replaced by a new regime of growth and distribution to temporarily resolve the crises.