Pakistan

Pakistan's governance oscillates between civilian and military rule with a regularity that suggests the pattern is structural, not accidental: the military has governed directly for roughly half the country's existence since independence in 1947. The army's political role is institutionalised through the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI), which operates as a parallel state with its own foreign policy, particularly regarding Afghanistan and India. The economy is perpetually dependent on IMF bailout programmes — Pakistan has entered 23 IMF programmes since 1958, more than any other country — creating a fiscal cycle where reform commitments are made to secure lending, partially implemented, then abandoned once the immediate crisis passes. The nuclear arsenal, acquired in 1998, provides a security guarantee against India but also constrains international engagement and diverts resources from development. Pakistan's governance challenge is that the military, civilian government, judiciary, and intelligence services each operate semi-independently, creating a state with multiple competing nervous systems rather than a unified command structure.