Securitised Development and State Authoritarianism in Pakistan: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

Abstract

Since the signing of the US$ 62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2015, Pakistani state officials and mainstream media have presented it as a 'game-changer' project for the country's socio-economic development, especially for the people of Pakistan's southwestern province, Balochistan, and the port city of Gwadar. Besides presenting CPEC as a revolutionary development project, the Pakistani state stamped out local opposition and their concerns regarding the project, especially from peripheral geographies like Gwadar, while linking them with 'international conspiracies' against the project. The presentation of CPEC as a revolutionary project and calling out dissidents as 'anti-state' elements in 'speech acts' of the state officials as well as in the mainstream media led to the securitisation of the project. Consequently, the indigenous people of Gwadar, who have reservations against the project, experienced a dramatic increase in the 'militarisation' of their city along with the 'dispossession' of their homes and livelihoods. While the existing academic scholarship, particularly in Pakistan, explores megaprojects and their securitisation, it remains short of investigating the role of official discourses of mega projects in their securitisation. Therefore, this dissertation will...