Representatieve bureaucratie in Pakistan. Een studie naar actieve, passieve en symbolische representatie

In my PhD, I systematically study the representativeness of the civil service of Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the world´s most complex states because of the diverse population groups and territorial regions (Cohen, 2004). It has a chequered democratic history (Adeney, 2009) marked by imbalances in state institutions particularly in its civil service (Talbot, 2002) which has made it more restrictive and unrepresentative of certain groups. Many population groups including women and territorial regions comprising of provinces have also sought their due representation in the civil bureaucracy of Pakistan in the past (Kukreja, 2020). In fact, the under-representation of the province of East Pakistan was one of the reasons for its secession, resulting in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 (Kennedy, 1984). Very few studies focus on the representation of women and territorial regions in the civil bureaucracy of Pakistan. Some have paid attention to the diversity in the Pakistan civil service (e.g. Samad, 2010; Paul et al., 2023), inequities faced by female civil servants in Pakistan due to gender blind policies (Salman, 2012) and their career advancement (Ansari, 2018; Ansari et al., 2016; Jabeen, 1999) while others have focused on representation or performance of women politicians (e.g. Bari, 2010; Chowdhury, 2018; Jabeen & Mubasher, 2018; Khattak, 2010). No study systematically examines the civil service of Pakistan through the lens of representation theory, specifically studying passive, active, or symbolic representation. We fill this research gap through this PhD and answer the overall research question that What is the state of passive representation in Pakistan's civil service, and how does female representation affect their active representation roles, symbolic representation, and their own perceptions of inclusivity?