The Global Capitalist

Benazir Bhutto’s death in Pakistan this morning is a huge blow to the global political infrastructure. While her reign in office was marked by corruption and poor policy decisions, political stability and law and order are essential to the progress of developing countries such as Pakistan. Her death has caused anger amongst a large part of the country’s individuals and brings skepticism regarding the involvement of current President Pervez Musharraf.

The country’s economic growth since Bhutto left office has been extraordinary. International conglomerates such as Microsoft, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard have entered the area, just as they have in India for the highly educated, low cost, English speaking IT professionals. This has brought prosperity to a country that, while certainly lagging behind its neighboring India, has given many of its citizens a middle class lifestyle that was never before possible. General Musharraf’s reign in office has been marked by close ties to the United States in terms of fighting terrorism and the expansion of trade policies. While bringing prosperity to some, radical Islamic groups have criticized Musharraf as being too close to the perceived enemy of Islam.

The election slated for January between Bhutto’s PPP party and Gen. Musharraf has looked promising for the PPP over the past few weeks. Now, with her assassination ocurring just weeks before the election, the entire political process has been thrown into unstable waters. Even though her policies would have seen a reversal in fortune for Pakistan, the mind blowing sentiment of a country under constant political turmoil is perhaps the worst scenario this developing country could have asked for.