Securitised development, popular politics and the authoritarian state in Pakistan

Development constitutes political, legal, social and economic experiences larger than the expression itself. We argue that development serves as an agenda for luring the general populace to dominant notions such as nation-building, growth, progress and game-changer events in national trajectories. In this way, development is a schema of regulating and (re)shaping ‘conduct of conduct’ to channel it in a certain direction. Our aim in this article is to understand the intricacies of the Pakistani state as a development actor that converges on the international development and control of the populace through its development projects – mainly large-scale infrastructural projects such as roads, dams, cities, hospitals and highways. This research is based on one such project called the Sahiwal Coal Power Project. We have collected data through participant observation, interviews, critical appraisal of policy documents and official promotions on national and international media. Such a careful assessment of the relevant literature has led to critical discourse analysis revealing the intricate relationships among securitised development, popular politics and the authoritarian state. We find that the Sahiwal Coal Power Project serves as an opportunity for different social actors and state institutions to capitalise on their hegemony and power at the cost of villagers who have experienced the might of the Pakistani state through securitised development, authoritarianism and populist politics aimed at controlling and shaping the society.