Understanding Political Failure in Pakistan: A Framework of Awareness, Scope, and Misalignment
Dr. Masood Tariq
Independent Political Theorist
Karachi, Pakistan
drmasoodtariq@gmail.com
Date: July 14, 2025
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Abstract
This paper examines the structural and cognitive causes of political failure in Pakistan, focusing on the widespread misalignment between levels of political awareness and political engagement. Using a conceptual framework that categorizes political consciousness from local to global scales, the study argues that a significant portion of political actors in Pakistan engage in political processes beyond their domain of competence or under misguided affiliations. The paper offers a quantitative model to estimate the distribution of political awareness in Pakistan’s population and highlights the implications of this mismatch for political inefficacy, leadership dysfunction, and national instability.
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List of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Defining Politics and Political Engagement
3. The Distribution of Political Awareness
4. Levels of Political Scope
5. Political Awareness in Pakistan: A Quantitative Estimate
6. Structural Causes of Political Failure in Pakistan
7. Conclusion
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1. Introduction
In modern political systems, the assumption that the public possesses sufficient awareness to meaningfully participate in political processes is often taken for granted. However, in practice, political awareness and capacity are unequally distributed and constrained by human limitations. Individuals typically operate within a small and familiar social circle, resulting in limited knowledge of broader societal processes and state dynamics.
This paper explores how the limitations of human knowledge and the structural distribution of political consciousness contribute to recurring political failure in Pakistan.
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2. Defining Politics and Political Engagement
Politics can be defined as the domain of decision-making that concerns collective social, administrative, financial, and economic matters. Political engagement requires three key components:
2-1. The identification of societal problems
2-2. The formulation of viable solutions
2-3. The implementation of corrective strategies through the acquisition and exercise of power
The ability to fulfill these functions is dependent upon access to information, analytical skill, and organizational resources. However, individuals frequently participate in political activities that exceed their cognitive, informational, or operational capacity.
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3. The Distribution of Political Awareness
Political awareness varies greatly across societal scales. As the level of governance expands from the local to the international level, the number of individuals capable of understanding and influencing political processes decreases significantly.
The approximate distribution of political awareness in any society may be conceptualized as follows:
3-1. At the neighborhood or village level, roughly 1 in 10 people possess political awareness.
3-2. At the block or settlement level, the ratio falls to 1 in 100.
3-3. At the union council level, it declines to 1 in 1,000.
3-4. At the tehsil level, the figure becomes 1 in 10,000.
3-5. At the district level, only 1 in 50,000 are politically conscious.
3-6. At the division level, the ratio is 1 in 100,000.
3-7. At the provincial level, political awareness is limited to 1 in 1,000,000.
3-8. At the national level, the number falls to 1 in 5,000,000.
3-9. At the international level, political consciousness exists in approximately 1 in 10,000,000 individuals.
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4. Levels of Political Scope
Political participation should ideally correspond to an individual’s experiential and cognitive scope. These scopes may be categorized as follows:
4-1. Limited scope:
Restricted to union councils, villages, or neighborhoods
4-2. Moderate scope:
Extending to tehsils, districts, or divisions
4-3. Broad scope:
Encompassing provincial, national, or international levels
The mismatch between individual scope and political ambition is a critical source of failure in political careers and initiatives.
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5. Political Awareness in Pakistan: A Quantitative Estimate
With a population of approximately 250 million, the estimated number of politically aware individuals in Pakistan at each level is as follows:
5-1. Neighborhood/Village level: 25 million
5-2. Block/Settlement level: 2.5 million
5-3. Union Council level: 250,000
5-4. Tehsil level: 25,000
5-5. District level: 5,000
5-6. Division level: 2,500
5-7. Provincial level: 250
5-8. National level: 50
5-9. International level: 25
These estimates conceptually illustrate a steep pyramid of political consciousness, underscoring the disproportionate distribution of political capacity across governance levels.
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6. Structural Causes of Political Failure in Pakistan
6.1 Misalignment Between Awareness and Engagement
One of the most prevalent causes of political failure in Pakistan is the tendency of individuals to engage in political activities that surpass their level of understanding and capability. This overextension often results in political ineffectiveness, time mismanagement, and complications in personal and professional life.
Political success is more likely when individuals align their engagement with their actual capacity and understanding.
6.2 Leadership Based on Affiliation, Not Merit
A second common cause of political failure arises when individuals follow political leaders not based on ideological or strategic alignment, but due to social affiliations—such as kinship, community ties, business interests, or friendships. These relationships often substitute for political competence, leading to ineffective leadership, poor representation, and disillusionment with political processes.
Recognizing and respecting the limits of one’s political awareness, while choosing leadership based on demonstrated capability, is essential for sustainable political progress.
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7. Conclusion
The failure of politics in Pakistan is not merely a result of institutional weakness or systemic corruption, but also of misjudgments at the individual level regarding political awareness and engagement. The mismatch between capacity and ambition, and between awareness and action, is widespread.
A more effective political culture necessitates that individuals critically assess their cognitive and experiential limitations, engage within appropriate governance scales, and align their political behavior with competence-based leadership.
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Author Biography
Dr. Masood Tariq is a Karachi-based politician and political theorist. He formerly served as Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim Students Federation (PMSF) Sindh, Councillor of the Municipal Corporation Hyderabad, Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh, and Member of the Sindh Cabinet.
His research explores South Asian geopolitics, postcolonial state formation, regional nationalism, and inter-ethnic politics, with a focus on the Punjabi question and Cold War strategic alignments.
He also writes on Pakistan’s socio-political and economic structures, analysing their structural causes and proposing policy-oriented solutions aligned with historical research and contemporary strategy.
His work aims to bridge historical scholarship and strategic analysis to inform policymaking across South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
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