Healing the the sick man of South Asia

Most Muslim countries were governed for decades by autocrats who had either emerged directly from the armed forces, or had strong "khaki" support.  That was the case in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and, of course, Pakistan.

The Arab Spring drained away whatever spurious legitimacy that style of governance ever had. But, in Pakistan, delegitimation of military rule had actually occurred three years earlier, and the pressure for change came from much the same source - a restive and mobilised new middle class.