DEBT OF HISTORY: COLONIALISM, NEOCOLONIALISM, AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PAKISTAN

Abstract

This study explores Pakistan’s contemporary economic crisis through a historical-analytical lens, arguing that it is not merely the product of corruption or poor governance but the outcome of a long-standing structural dependency rooted in colonial and neo-colonial dynamics. Using a documentary and historical analysis approach, the research examines how British colonial policies engineered economic underdevelopment by dismantling local industries, redirecting resources toward imperial interests, and institutionalizing patterns of extraction. Following independence, these inherited weaknesses deepened as Pakistan entered Cold War alliances and became reliant on Western aid and international financial institutions. The study situates this trajectory within Dependency Theory and World-Systems Theory, showing how external financial mechanisms—particularly IMF and World Bank conditionalities—transformed short-term borrowing into chronic indebtedness, eroding economic sovereignty and reinforcing authoritarian governance. The findings reveal that Pakistan’s underdevelopment is historically constructed and sustained by global power asymmetries, rather than internal mismanagement alone. It concludes that breaking this cycle requires both domestic reform and the restructuring of global financial relations to prioritize national autonomy and equitable development.