This study examines the hazards of democracy promotion in multi-ethnic societies. I begin by developing a simple formal model, which isolates the main features of the strategic context of democracy promotion that can trigger ethnic conflict. The key intuition of the model is that democracy promotion creates a commitment problem between ethnic majorities and minority groups that are demographically over-represented in the coercive forces of the authoritarian regime that has been removed to install democracy.

Abstract: Postcolonialism, as a discipline and approach, offers an analytical lens through which to investigate problems in formerly colonized states of Africa and South Asia, along with a poststructuralist perspective on culture and discourse on politics of representation. Pakistan is one such former colony where postcolonial narratives and the persistence of colonial legacies such as the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), on its periphery of Pashtun-dominated tribal areas of FATA, has contributed to growing instability in the region.