ABSTRACT
The paradox is that, on the one hand, a party dominance system emerges as a response to the military hegemonic system, while on the other hand, the functioning and development of the former is conditioned by the latter. Differentiated economic growth did occur under military hegemonic systems and it promoted economic pluralism and economic development. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged as a response to the military hegemonic political system. By its very nature, origin, orientation, leadership composition, and group support, the PPP emerged as an anti-elite, anti-status quo party. In a post-military hegemonic system, politics are characterized by dissent, conflict and violence. The party was to be an instrument of acquiring access to governmental resources to distribute rewards to its adherents; it was to destroy the bureaucratic-military elites’ control of resources. General Zia ul Haq constructed a military regime which was more coercive and ideological compared to that of Ayub Khan’s.
