A Symmetric Federalism in Pakistan: Historical Lessons and Constitutional Challenges

Muhammad Faisal ()
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Muhammad Faisal: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-I-Azam University

A chapter in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Applied Economics and Social Science (ICAESS 2025), 2026, pp 648-656 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Federations are made up of several entities including cultural, political, and economic interests. These variations often leads to debates and disputes resulting from the natural and institutional differences within a federation. To resolve such differences, some federations employ a symmetric federalism, a constitutional system meant to accommodate differential requirements and desires among affiliated units. In recent years, a symmetric federalism has gained significant scholarly attention, with studies investigating its origins, evolution, conceptual frameworks and various degrees of application across the world. In Pakistan, a federal state marked by uneven federating units and past difficulties with national cohesiveness, this paper explores the existence and consequences of symmetric federalism. By studying theoretical foundations, the country’s natural structure and constitutional arrangements, this study analyzes whether a symmetric pattern exist in the federal system of Pakistan. A special focus is given to the historical rejection of federalism that led to the partition of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), analyzing the political, institutional and constitutional elements that contributed to this key event.

Keywords: Language barrior; Distribution of sources; Recruitments of military; Economic un-equality; Sheikh Mujeeb’s six points (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:advbcp:978-94-6463-990-2_43

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DOI: 10.2991/978-94-6463-990-2_43

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