Formulation of Foreign Policy in Pakistan: Institutional Framework
Introduction
The prime objective of a state is to safeguard the national interest of the country which, inter alia, means ensuring its territorial integrity and internal stability, improving the quality of life of its citizens, and endeavouring to maintain regional peace. To achieve the multiple objectives formulated to do so, the state formulates a set of comprehensive interdependent policies. Foreign policy is one such policy formulated to safeguard a country’s national interest by utilising its interaction with foreign entities-states, non-state actors, or supra-state institutions.
The formulation of the foreign policy of a nation-state, which is an extension of its domestic policies, is a complex, and iterative process involving multiple stakeholders. Besides giving an indication of its priorities, a carefully formulated foreign policy provides clear guidance to those who have to implement it. In this process besides the objectives to be pursued to safeguard its national interest under the prevailing regional security apparatus, it is the strategic culture, the mindset of the ruling elite which ultimately determines the contents and direction of the foreign policy of a country.
Foreign Policy Formulation in Pakistan: Institutional Framework
n a democratic setup, there are multiple stakeholders at different layers and fields playing their constitutionally mandated respective roles in the formulation of foreign policy. Pakistan being a functioning democracy, its policy formulation process, by and large, resembles any nation-state having fairly well-functioning democratic institutions. These are as follows
Parliament
Theoretically, it is the Parliament of the Islamic State of Pakistan that is the supreme policy-making institution, including the formulation of the foreign policy of the country. Unfortunately, in actual practice, the two Houses of Parliament and their Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs have not been as active in the consideration of foreign policy issues as they could or should have been for one reason or another. It influences this process by making known its views on important foreign policy issues by discussing them in its sessions or passing resolutions in respect of any aspect of a country’s external relations.
Cabinet:
Although the Parliament is the supreme policy-making authority in the country, in actual practice, it is the cabinet, headed by the duly elected chief executive i.e., Prime Minister or the President, which formulates the foreign policy. The Constitution requires that all-important foreign policy decisions ultimately must be taken by the cabinet and formally communicated to the head of the state, usually the President. Once the foreign policy proposal is received by the Prime Minister or cabinet, it would be discussed in its formal meeting and adopted, rejected, or modified keeping in view the country’s best national interests.
Foreign Office:
Normally, any foreign policy proposal would be initiated by the Ministry of Foreign affairs which is the focal point for the initiation of all proposals relating to the foreign affairs of a country. However, there may be cases where any issue relating to any ministry has foreign policy implications. In such a case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is consulted or the case itself may be routed through it to the cabinet to obviate the possibility of any proposal being accepted which is not in the larger interest of the country.
The foreign office, while formulating and submitting foreign policy proposals to the government, would take into account the views of the Parliament, civil society, media, and think tanks. If need be, the foreign office would consult them formally. Similarly, it would also consider the views and policies of other countries and non-state actors at regional and international levels within the prevailing regional and international strategic environment.
Armed Forces:
All over the world, armed forces play an extremely crucial role in the making of the foreign policy of any country for obvious reasons. However, in the case of Pakistan, they play the dominant role. There are multiple reasons for the larger-than-life role played by Pakistan’s armed forces in the political governance of the country, ranging from colonial legacies, domestic conditions, regional imperatives, and global environments. A few reasons to explain their role in this respect are in annexure a.
Pakistan has found itself, forced by the perceived threat to its security to devote a larger part of its limited resources to defence and as a necessary corollary to give the military a greater role in the political life of the fledgling democracy. This has also meant that the military and the intelligence agencies have had a much greater role to play in determining the policies to be adopted and equally importantly the measures to be taken on the ground through overt and covert operations to tackle these security threats or to pursue Pakistan’s perceived national interests. It has also meant that both the intelligence agencies belonging to the armed forces and those theoretically under civilian authority view their function as going beyond the collection of information.
Ministries
Besides the Foreign Office, several ministries play an important role in shaping the foreign policy of Pakistan. Some of these are the
- Economic Affairs Division, Ministry of Finance responsible for dealing with bilateral or multilateral economic and technical cooperation, with foreign state and supra-state institutions
- Ministry of Commerce responsible for increasing Pakistan exports,
- Ministry of Investment, tasked with attracting Foreign Direct Investment
- Ministry of Privatisation mandated to disinvest the state-owned enterprises,
- External Publicity Wing, Ministry of Information responsible for projecting a soft image of the country,
- Ministry of Defence seeking to enhance the defence capabilities of the country through the acquisition of military technology and armaments etc
Non-state Institutions
Although foreign policy formulation is a very structured process involving formal institutions of the country, three non-state institutions provide important inputs in this process. These are the think tanks, media, and civil society organizations. Think tanks and research institutes play an extremely useful role in any country’s formulation of policies by providing an independent assessment of the ground realities as well as recommending a course of action. Although Pakistan is woefully short of such tank tanks, there are quite a few think tanks that have been quite active in this field
Civil society organizations are not well organized in the country and as such their contributions to making foreign policy are not so significant. However, lately, they have become quite active, particularly those espousing human rights causes. As opposed to the think tanks and civil society organizations, Pakistani media has been quite active in shaping the foreign policy of the country through its role as the mirror of the social thoughts
Determinants/Mainsprings of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy
The foreign policy of a country is not made or implemented in a vacuum; it owes its formulation to several variables and constants-historical, geographical, external, internal, etc. Using the general framework explained in chapter 3 above, we can categorise the determinants of the foreign policy of Pakistan under the following three headings namely
- Pakistan’s National Interest
- Pakistan’s Strategic Culture
- Pakistan’s Regional/global Security Apparatus
It may be noted that while the national interest of Pakistan is a comparatively long-term constant, its strategic culture is a medium-term phenomenon, subject to change with changing perceptions of the incumbents or the entry of a new lot of policymakers. However, the regional apparatus is subject to change in a short period, or even immediately if there are substantial changes in regional or global geopolitics or the occurrence of any trends or events.
In my next few articles, I will be discussing the above-mentioned three sets of determinants of the foreign policy of Pakistan. However, I would advise you to first study this article of mine to understand the determinants of the foreign policy of any country
Determinants of Foreign Policy: A New Framework | by Shahid Hussain Raja | Medium
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