“Gray Zone” Constitutionalism and the Dilemma of Judicial Independence in Pakistan
Many countries exist in a “gray zone” between authoritarianism and democracy. For countries in this conceptual space—which is particularly relevant today given the halting path of change in the Arab world—scholars, judges, and rule of law activists conventionally urge an abstract notion of “judicial independence” as a prerequisite for successful democratic transition. Only recently, for example, Pakistan’s judiciary was widely lauded for its “independence” in challenging the