The development of Pakistan's economy and society in the last four decades is explored, first by analyzing the role of the tripartite ruling elite that has wielded state power almost since the country's creation. Alongside, the paper also examines Pakistan's economic performance in the last 40 years, its political tribulations, and the impact of American foreign policy since the 1950s. Despite some impressive periods, economic growth has been inconsistent, uneven and largely exclusionary. In the process, Pakistan's social, political and economic structures have been badly mauled by the intervention of the military in politics, and American-inspired economic and social experiments. The more recent economic liberalization campaign has essentially contributed to the hardening of fissures in society, exacerbating ethnic and sub-national conflict while intensifying the stranglehold of the tripartite ruling coalition.
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