The Welfare State-Civil Society Dilemma During the first three Decades of Pakistan

Hina Khan

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Welfare state, despite facing severe neoliberal criticism, is still practiced in various forms in many western and eastern countries. Muslims also cherish the welfare state as an Islamic injunction and proudly trace its origin to the early Islamic state of Madina (seventh century CE). On the other hand the increasing limitations of the state make an equitable supply of welfare to every citizen difficult and hence lead to the entry of civil society which then serves to ameliorate the wants of the marginalized people. In this context, this paper tends to study the concept and working of state-welfarism and its nexus with the civil society’s welfare initiative with particular reference to the first three decades in the history of Pakistan. It further seeks to study how the crisis of welfare state has affected the civil society’s welfare work in Pakistan during those three decades and how it is expected to work in future.