A Comparative Analysis of Intra-party Democracy within the Major Political Parties of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh

Authors

  • Mian Muhammad Azhar Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science & International Relations, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • Abdul Basit Khan Assistant Professor (OPS), Department of Political Science & International Relations, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • Musawar Hussain Bukhari Associate Professor, Chairman Department of Political Science, Islamia University Bahawalpur, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26710/reads.v5i2.607

Keywords:

Political Party, Internal Democracy, Candidate Nomination, Intra-party Elections

Abstract

In the democratic form of government, political parties play a determinative and creative role. Striving for public offices is their fundamental objective which distinguishes them from other social organizations; hence, parties utilize all channels to secure maximum parliamentary slots. In a representative and inclusive democracy, political parties perform a set of different jobs ranging from nomination of electoral candidates, managing their campaigns, transforming public sentiments and demands into public policy, citizens’ integration as well as fabricating government and civil society. Giving much importance to the political parties for the development of representative democracy, concerns have been raised about the ways in which they discharge their functions. If democracy deems not to flourish without political parties, then it is also important to assess how political parties are internally democratic in their determination and decision-making, influence and significance, proceeding and practices and distribution and dissemination of authority.  In developing states, majority of political parties are operating as family-enterprises lacking true internal democratic culture. Self- centric, dynastic and interrupted politics have plagued the democratic norms and values. By focusing upon the ways and means which the parties adopt to elect their office-bearers as well as the mechanism which they prefer to nominate electoral candidates, the instant study will investigate whether or not the mainstream political parties in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are democratic in their functioning?

References

get PML-N tickets, though they quit party after coup. (2013, April 30). The News. Retrieved from https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/427308-146-get-pml-n-tickets-though-they-quit-party-after-coup

Amundsen, I. (2013). Dynasty or democrcacy?Party politics in Bangladesh.CMI Brief (Vol. 12). Norway. Retrieved from https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2474844/Dynasty or democracy%3F Party politics in Bangladesh?sequence=1

Amundsen, I. (2016). Democratic dynasties?Internal party democracy in Bangladesh. Party Politics, 22(1), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068813511378

Azhar, M., & Muhammad, A. (2015). Electoral Performance of Religio-Political Parties in Pakistan: An Assessment. Pakistan Journal of Islamic Research, 16(2), 35–49. Retrieved from http://iri.aiou.edu.pk/indexing/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/eng-03-Ayaz-Rana-Azhar-23-08-15-NEW-1.pdf

Balwani, A., &Chibber, P. (2016, January 29). The power to centralise.THE HINDU. Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/The-power-to-centralise/article14025225.ece

Bryce, V. J. (1921). Modern Democracies. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved from http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/bryce-modern-democracies-vol-2

Chousalkar, A. (1997). Party Elections Long Road to Inner-Party Democracy. Economic and Political Weekly, 32(37), 7–8. Retrieved from http://www.epw.in/journal/1997/37/commentary/party-elections-long-road-inner-party-democracy.html

Collaborative conjunction between crime and politics. (2018). Retrieved from https://adrindia.org/content/collaborative-conjunction-between-crime-and-politics

Constitution Pakistan Muslim league (N). (1996). Retrieved May 28, 2018, from http://www.pmln.us/constitution/

Dahiya, N. (2017). A Look At Why “Crime Pays” In Indian Politics. Retrieved July 19, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/02/11/513089503/a-look-at-why-crime-pays-in-indian-politics

Declaration and Constitution. (2016). Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://publication.albd.org/declaration-and-constitution-2016/#p=30

Dhru, K., &Monterio, R. A. E. G. (2010). Democracy Within and Without: A report on inner-party democracy in political parties. AhmedAbad. Retrieved from http://www.rfgindia.org/publications/IPD.pdf

Farooqui, A., &Sridharan, E. (2014).Incumbency, internal processes and renomination in Indian parties. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 52(1), 78–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2013.867690

Gowda, R., &Sridharan, E. (2010).Political Parties and Democracy in India.In K. Lawson, B. He, & A. Kulik (Eds.), Political Parties and Democracy (III, p. 299). New York: Prager. https://doi.org/10.2307/2623305

Hasan, Z. (2017, December 18). The question of intraparty democracy.The Hindu. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-question-of-intraparty-democracy/article21827524.ece

Hofmeister, W., &Grabow, K. (2011). Political parties functions and organisation in democratic societies. Singapore: Konard Adenauer Stifting. Retrieved from http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_7671-1442-2-30.pdf?120920114650.

Internal Democracy of Major Political Parties.(2016). Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency. Islamabad. Retrieved from http://www.pildat.org/Publications/publication/DemocracyAndLegStr/InternalDemocracyOfMajorPoliticalPartiesOfPakistan2015.pdf

Kelly, N., &Ashiagbor, S. (2011). Political Parties and Democrcay in Theoretical and Parctical Perspectives. Washington D.C.: National Democratic Institute. Retrieved from https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/2406_polpart_report_engpdf_100708.pdf

Khan, S. A. (2016). What India must learn from America on intra-party democracy. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.dailyo.in/politics/indian-politics-kejriwal-shashi-tharoor-congress-rahul-sonia-gandhi-bjp-modi-advani-trump-clinton-bsp-tmc-akhilesh-yadav/story/1/9655.html

Khan, Z. (2011, July 28). PML-N Intra Party Elections: After a decade, Nawaz takes formal Charge again. The Express Tribune. Retrieved from https://tribune.com.pk/story/218413/nawaz-sharif-elected-pml-n-president/

Liton, S., &Molla, M. A. (2018, June 15). BNP’s challenge bigger this time.The Daily Star. Retrieved from https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bnps-challenge-bigger-time-1591339

Mahiuddin, K. M. (2010). Candidate Selection Process: an analysus of post 1990 Parlimentary Elections in Bangladesh. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/25055756/Party-Candidate-Selection-Process-in-Bangladesh

Malik, A., & Sheikh, A. (2018, February 27). pmln elects nawaz as quaid for life shahbazas interim party president. Dawn. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1392062

Manan, A. (2013, March 28). For PML-N, awarding tickets proves uphill task. The Express Tribune. Retrieved from https://tribune.com.pk/story/527616/drastic-measures-for-pml-n-awarding-tickets-proves-uphill-task/

Marquez, V. B. (2005). Undemocratic Politics in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. In T. Janoski, R. Alford, A. Hicks, & M. A. Schwartz (Eds.), A handbook of Political Sociology: States, Civil Socities and Globalization (First, p. 839). New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://www.obinfonet.ro/docs/apocal/apocarex/handbook-of-political-sociology.pdf

Missing intra-party democracy in India. (2018). Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://www.iastoppers.com/missing-intra-party-democracy-india-mains-article/

Monitor Political Parties’ Internal Democracy.(2016). Islamabad. Retrieved from http://www.pildat.org/Publications/publication/DemocracyAndLegStr/Monitor_Political_Parties_Internal_Democracy_Oct2016.pdf

Pakistan Peoples Party?: Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved June 8, 2018, from http://pppusa.info/constitution.html

Pakistan Peoples Party- – Oldest Democratic Political Party.(n.d.). Retrieved June 8, 2018, from https://www.ppp.org.pk/

PML-N elects Shahbaz Sharif its permanent president. (2018, March 13). The News. Retrieved from https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/291904-pml-n-elects-shahbaz-sharif-its-permanent-president

PMLN’s intra party elections on Oct 18. (2016, October 14). Dawn. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1289891

Polanki, P. (2014, February 25). Congress’ primaries: Will Rahul’s experiment win elections? First Post. Retrieved from https://www.firstpost.com/politics/congress-primaries-will-rahuls-experiment-win-elections-1408107.html

Politics of Dynasty knows no boundaries. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2018, from http://www.culturebriefings.com/index.html

Power, P. (2013). The State of Governance in Bangladesh: Democracy, party, politics. BARC Institute of Governance and Development.Retrieved from http://bigd.bracu.ac.bd/jdownloads/STATE OF GOVERNANCE SOG REPORT/1.sog report- 2013- democracy party politics.pdf

PPPP elects Amin Fahim as president, Ashraf as GS. (2013, January 27). The News. Retrieved from https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/628159-pppp-elects-amin-fahim-as-president,-ashraf-as-gs

Sastry, T. (2013).Towards the De-Criminalization of Elections and Politics (No. 436). New Delhi. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2360421

Schattschneider, E. E. (1942). Party Governmnet. New York: Holt rinehart and Winston. Retrieved from https://isistatic.org/journal-archive/pr/12_01/piereson.pdf

Schlesinger, J. A. (1984). On the Theory of Party Organization. The Journal of Politics, 46(2), 369–400.

Shamrat, A. S. (2017). Intra-Party Democracy in Bangladesh: A Study of AL and BNP’S General Secretary. Retrieved January 17, 2018, from http://southasiajournal.net/intra-party-democracy-in-bangladesh-a-study-of-al-and-bnps-general-secretary-secretary-general-elections/

Shehbaz Sharif formally elected as PML-N’s president. (2018, May 28). Dunyanews. Retrieved from https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/431107-Shehbaz-Sharif-elected-PML-N-permanent-president-unopposed

Singh, R. (2015). Intra-party Democracy and Indian Political Parties.Chennai. Retrieved from http://www.thehinducentre.com/multimedia/archive/02317/Intra_Party_Democr_2317144a.pdf

Socio-Economic Background of Political Parties Candidates for General Election 2008.(2008). Islamabad. Retrieved from Socio-Economic Background of Political Parties Candidates for General Election 2008

Stokes, S. C. (1999).Political parties and democrcay. Annual Review Political Science, 2, 243–267.

The ACE Encyclopedia: Parties and Candidates. (2013). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from www.aceproject.org

Toerell, J. (2010). Determinants ofDemocratization: Explaining Regime Change in the World, 1972-2006. Cambridge University Press.

Ullah, M. F. (2018). “Democracy begins at home”— Intra-party elections in Pakistan. Retrieved June 8, 2018, from https://www.datastories.pk/democracy-begins-home-intra-party-elections-pakistan/

Vaishnav, M. (2014).Crime but No Punishment in Indian Elections. Retrieved July 19, 2018, from https://carnegieendowment.org/2014/01/24/crime-but-no-punishment-in-indian-elections-pub-54310

Wasim, A. (2016a, October 11). PMLN office bearers meet to fulfil legal formalities. Dawn. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1289416

Wasim, A. (2016b, October 18). Old faces likely to retain most PML-N offices. Dawn. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1290672

Zardari elected PPPP president, Bilawal elected PPP chairman. (2017). Retrieved February 7, 2018, from http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/369418-Zardari-elected-PPPP-president-Bilawal-elected-PP

Downloads

Published

2020-07-26

How to Cite

Mian Muhammad Azhar, Abdul Basit Khan, & Musawar Hussain Bukhari. (2020). A Comparative Analysis of Intra-party Democracy within the Major Political Parties of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Review of Economics and Development Studies, 5(2), 355-364. https://doi.org/10.26710/reads.v5i2.607

Most read articles by the same author(s)