Inclusive and participatory governance operating transparently is a prerequisite for the just and equitable progress of any nation. When everyone has a voice, policies and practices are more likely to reflect public needs and remain anchored in accountable oversight for the common good. Societies that count on and draw their collective strength and legitimacy from their people reap inclusive benefits for all citizens.

However, those that operate in defiance of, or under false façades of, legitimacy cultivate disproportionate and lopsided development, providing the powerful with an unbridled stake to affect policies and practices in a self-serving manner. This system of exclusion largely tames and empowers a narrow class of oligarchs who seize, retain, sustain, and regain all their stakes through deception, evil alliances, manipulation, misappropriation, or other facets of corruption. Pakistan, unfortunately, is rarely alien to this pattern.

The extractive and exclusive nature of our society has........

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