Seeking Supremacy: the Pursuit Of Judicial Power In Pakistan

The emergence of the judiciary as an assertive and confrontational centre of power has been the most consequential new feature of Pakistan’s political system. This book maps the evolution of the relationship between the judiciary and the military in Pakistan, explaining why Pakistan’s high courts shifted from loyal deference to the military to open competition and confrontation with military and civilian institutions. Yasser Kureshi demonstrates that a shift in the audiences shaping judicial preferences explains the emergence of the judiciary as an assertive power centre. As the judiciary gradually embraced less deferential institutional preferences, it sought to play a more expansive and authoritative political role. Using this audience-based approach, Kureshi roots the judiciary in its political, social and institutional context, and develops a generalisable framework that can explain variation and change in judicial-military relations around the world.