Shandana Khan Mohmand - Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters

Lekh

In the fifth episode of Lekh, I speak to Shandana Khan Mohmand, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex on her new book Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters: Democracy under inequality in rural Pakistan published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press. Does democracy empower rural voters under conditions of extreme inequality? Khan Mohmand investigates this question by probing how rural voters in Pakistan vote during elections and how their agency is exercised through kinship networks or vote blocs intended to maximise their political interests. Using data collected through surveys, interviews and ethnography, the book finds that electoral politics in Pakistan is competitive and dynamic where marginalized voters interact strategically with rural elites to further their interests. The conversation begins by asking why local politics seldom features when understanding how national politics before moving to unpack the arguments of the book that focus on rural voters and their interactions with rural landed elites as they vote. I ask why Khan Mohmand chose to turn the gaze from oligarchs to the voters when understanding voter choices and why rural voters form blocs to strengthen their bargaining power with these oligarchs. The conversation continues by exploring the innovative methodological approach followed by Khan Mohmand to generate findings and the difficulties faced while doing so. I conclude by asking whether the politics Khan Mohmand describes in the book will evolve to a politics of resistance that can fulfil wants and desires of those Pakistani citizens living under extreme inequality.