Beyond Just Ballots: An Exploratory Analysis of Youth Political Activism in the Democratic Landscape of Pakistan

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Youth Political Activism pertaining to the changing political participatory behavior of the youth and its significance in cultivating liberal democratic values in the society is an underexplored subject, especially in the Global South’s context. Therefore, this thesis tries to research the barriers faced by the Pakistani youth in their political activism and participation. The research attempts to understand the nature of the problems and how they have changed over time due to the change in the traditional forms of political participation catalyzed by Digital Social Networks. The thesis further explores the relationship between youth political activism in cultivating liberal democratic values. The researcher put forwards two research questions 1. What are the barriers to the active participation of Pakistani youth in the political spheres? 2. How can youth’s political activism create an environment conducive to fostering democratic values and in sustaining a consistent democracy? To achieve this the researcher used a mixed method research design and the research relied mostly on non-numerical data i.e. qualitative methods with a field survey and a semi-structured interview. The survey data was analyzed through google forms and excel whereas interview data was analyzed through manual coding. The result from the data shows no change in the nature of the barriers faced by the youth of today, as challenges that existed decades ago still exists. But the research did show changes in the political participatory behavior of the youth due to information implosion and this implosion seems to be responsible for the cognitive shift among the youth of Pakistan. But Pakistani politics remains far from the activism based and cause oriented politics, significant for the cultivation of liberal democratic values from the grass root level. Future research on this issue can focus on the religious aspects of the issue in depth and investigate how it impacts youth’s political participatory behavior in a country like Pakistan. Keywords: Political activism, Political Participation, Political Socialization, Digital Activism, Social Movements, Civic Engagement, Youth, Democracy,Pakistan.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1 INTRODUCTION 1
• 1.1 PREVIEW OF LITERATURE REVIEW 2
• 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH 5
• 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS . 7
• 1.4 HYPOTHESIS 8
• 1.5 THESIS STATEMENT . 8
• 1.6 METHODOLOGY 8
• 2 LITERATURE REVIEW . 11
• 2.1 REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE: 11
• 2.1.1 YOUTH SOCIAL MOVEMENTS – HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 11
• 2.1.2 DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 13
• 2.1.3 YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY . 15
• 2.1.4 YOUTH POLITICAL ACTIVISM . 16
• 2.1.5 YOUTH POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION – A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE 19
• 2.1.6 YOUTH, POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH ASIA 20
• 2.2 SNAPSHOT OF PAKISTAN 23
• 2.2.1 HISTORY OF STUDENT POLITICS IN PAKISTAN . 23
• 2.2.2 YOUTH OF PAKISTAN AND THEIR PARTICIPATORY BEHAVIOR 29
• 2.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 34
• 2.3.1 RELEVANCE OF THE TWO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS . 35
• 2.3.2 RESOURCE MOBILIZATION THEORY . 35
• 2.3.3 THEORIES OF POLITICAL ACTIVISM . 39
• 3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 47
• 3.1 SOCIOECONOMIC MODERNIZATION IN PAKISTAN . 48
• 3.2 STATE STRUCTURE OF PAKISTAN . 51
• 3.3 MOBILIZING AGENCIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN PAKISTAN 55
• 3.4 SOCIAL RESOURCES AND CULTURAL MOTIVATION 60
• 4 RESEARCH METHODOLGY . 63
• 4.1 SURVEY 63
• 4.1.1 PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY 63
• 4.2 INTERVIEWS 64
• 4.3 DATA GATHERING AND DATA ANALYSIS 65
• 5 FINDINGS 67
• 5.1 SURVEY FINDINGS . 67
• 5.1.1 POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT . 67
• 5.1.2 YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY . 75
• 5.1.3 CHALLENGES/BARRIERS . 77
• 5.2 INTERVIEW FINDINGS . 82
• 5.2.1 CHALLENGES 85
• 5.2.2 YOUTH AS VANGUARD OF DEMOCRACY 86
• 5.2.3 ACTIVISM BASED POLITICS IN PAKISTAN 87
• 5.2.4 UNIVERSITIES AS BASTIONS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC VALUES 88
• 6 DISCUSSION 89
• 6.1 DISCUSSION ANALYSIS 89
• 7 CONCLUSION . 95
• 7.1 RECOMMENDATIONS 95
• 7.2 LIMITATIONS 96
• 8 ANNEXES. 97
• BIBLIOGRAPHY 98