Huzaima Bukhari
“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude”—Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)
The concept of ‘government’ as of today can hardly be called a moderate entity. Rather, one can observe it as either a blessing or a curse for the millions who are by force of destiny, under their command.
The objective of control could range from establishing essential social order to self-serving consolidation of power by specific elites or regimes. To make matters worse or better, it is all done in the name of democracy (government of the people, by the people, for the people), whereas in reality, people either do or hardly matter. There appears no room for a middle ground. According to Jonathan Swift: “For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery”.
Prison walls are meant to contain convicts so that their freedom is curtailed and they are deprived of the liberty to do as they please. But then this is a form of punishment for the felonies committed by them. For no fault of theirs, the same treatment can be meted out to people without placing them in gallows. These are the invisible barriers of suffocating regulations and control tactics that are used to suppress sane voices, stop peaceful protests, restrict economic activity, crush judicial activism, deprive people from easy and free access to justice and prevent them from seeking fundamental rights.
To twist knife into these wounds and to further break their backs, a barrage of taxes is hurled on the people in the name of serving national interests, rather, pleasing international donors. This forces the public to tend to its own struggle of making a respectable living, leaving the governments alone to do things their way. Confucius said: “An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger”, meaning thereby that where there is a liberal administration, fear would be eliminated from the minds of the governed allowing them ample breathing space and a relatively peaceful life.
Undoubtedly, history is witness to an assortment of legal, economic, social and cultural control instruments introduced by governments in the past. Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE) for example, was a complete set of rules that related to almost everything from property rights to personal injury.
During the era of monarchs and emperors, one person became the law giver, who held absolute control over the subjects. These kings and queens claimed being representatives of the divine Almighty thus claiming divinity themselves with inherent right to rule.
Today there are around six to seven absolute monarchies in the world while around 35 countries have a constitutional monarch with limited power who shares it with elected officials. Then there are the super powers that want control over the entire globe. So if a flow chart is drawn with the super power in lead, the lowest in the rung would be the helpless individual who is the victim of all the above control freaks. The cause and effects of this kind of hold is enough to throw human beings in a state of depression and uncertainty. While they run around like headless chickens, they become devoid of their very purpose in life compelling them to seek peace through means that can be detrimental for themselves as well as the society.
A reasonable amount of control by those at the helm of affairs can generate autonomy, resilience and self-respect whereas a tyrannical self-serving approach is a prelude to psychological ailments that can affect both the governed and the governors.
Such an exercise may result in temporary gains but in the long run they prove to be catastrophic for nations, especially ones that have lost all sense of direction. For example, stifling atmosphere in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh erupted in chaos. It is only a matter of time that people in similar placed countries take to the streets in the same fashion to bring down the oppressors.
Exerting state control meanders through a number of ways including political engineering that involves redesigning or reforming institutions and laws so as to achieve desired purposes. Any semblance to Pakistan’s situation would be a coincidence. Then there is social control which can best be observed during Zia ul Haq’s and Pervez Musharraf’s eras. Religion, social norms and opinions were specially manipulated to influence society and mold people to fit a specific category regardless of individual interests and aspirations. In such a set-up, the weaker segments of society suffer most, particularly if the intentions of controllers are negative in nature.
Another favourite recipe for exercising unlimited authority is to malign democratic institutions and politicians to an extent that erodes public trust in them. A good example is that of Hungary’s Fidesz party. In power since long, it has systematically dismantled the country’s democratic institutions through “executive aggrandizement”—weakening of checks and balances using legal means and transforming the country into an “electoral autocracy.” This process involves controlling the media, weakening the judiciary and manipulating the electoral system to ensure future victories.
Deception too is a popular tactics using sanctions, rewards and punishments forcing conformity to certain political agendas. It also envisages taking advantage of media and technology, restriction on dissemination of information, instilling fear by manufacturing threats, exploiting existing grievances, creating polarization or better still, towing the policy of ‘divide and rule’ to suppress chances of revolt by planting ‘us’ against ‘them’. This is best reflected in the aftermath of 9/11 when George W. Bush declared all who did not side with the USA, ‘terrorists’.
One must remember that while pro-people stance of governance has more advantages than drawbacks, untethered control can have extremely detrimental outcomes, chief among which is instability, leading to total extermination or subjugation to more powerful forces.
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The writer, lawyer and author, is an Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), member Advisory Board and Senior Visiting Fellow of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE)