Pakistan After Musharraf: Praetorianism and Terrorism

An uneasy relationship between military and civilian power hangs like a cloud over the future of democratic reform in Pakistan. Praetorianism has been a deeply-ingrained feature in Pakistani politics since the country’s birth, making depoliticization of the military a nettlesome task for any civilian government, particularly given that the military’s “prerogatives” comprise the defense sector, internal security, legal system, and even foreign relations and nuclear weapons. With the ever-present threat of terrorism and the public insecurity and unrest terrorist acts provoke, authoritarian backsliding remains a sobering possibility.