Federal political system resolve the problem of premature dissolutions of government in

2.5 Techniques used in the First Part of the Thesis 
This thesis analyses the problem of premature dissolution of government and 
proposes a solution which can address the recurrence of such episodes. The 
doctrinal approach is relied upon in order to examine the case law and legislation 
that support or have supported premature dissolution of government. As indicated 
above, doctrinal approach is not only about the concepts but also allows for 
problem-solving by incorporating both positivist and interpretivist approaches.
32
The test used in Chapter 4 incorporates these two main concepts alongside classic 
realism. Legal realism challenges the classical legal claim of law as being 'separate 
and autonomous from moral and political discourse'.
33
It is not possible to just look 
29
Ronald Dworkin, Law's Empire (Harvard University Press 1986). 
30
Mark Greenberg, 'How Facts Make Law' (2004) 10 Legal Theory 157. 
31
Stephen Matthew Feldman, 'The New Metaphysics: The Interpretive Turn in Jurisprudence' (1991) 
76 Iowa Law Review 661. 
32
Mark Van Hoecke, 'Legal Doctrine: Which method(s) for What kind of Discipline?' in Mark Van 
Hoecke (ed), Methodologies of Legal Research Which Kind of Method for What Kind of Discipline? (Hart 
2011) x. 
33
William Fisher, Morton Horwitz and Thomas Reed, American Legal Realism (Oxford University 
Press 1993) 49. 

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15 
at the law in a positivist way without understanding the surrounding political 
context. 
Chapter 2, where Pakistan’s constitutional history is assessed by reference to the 
key factors, has divided the constitutional history into four periods, each of which 
involves legal systems already established by (political) authority, that is, 
constitutional law, in Hart's positivist sense.
34
These implemented legal systems are 
then subject to an interpretivist interpretation so as to answer the research 
questions. 
The researcher is aware that challenging the existing political system can be of an 
interdisciplinary nature. Since the thesis employs two research techniques, the 
researcher admits that not only jurisprudential and philosophical approaches are 
central to the challenge but there may be some alignment of sociological and 
anthropological approaches too. Those two approaches are not explored in detail 
except where they are already incorporated in the chosen methods, for example, 
comparative law involves an anthropology element and legal realism involves an 
element of sociology.
35
The researcher like authors in interdisciplinary approaches 
(such as Vick
36
and Balkin
37
) use both philosophical and sociological standards to 
cover multiple disciplines.
The researcher is aware of the possibility of inappropriate shifts in focus if he tries 
to involve himself in to too many disciplines. In Chapter 3, the researcher explores 
the relevant concepts (as indicated above) from philosophy and integrates them with 
the hypothesis of constitutional suitability and the concept of a Democratic Federal 
Political System as a result of his investigation into his initial hypothesis.
38
To draw 
a boundary and maintain focus, he very briefly resorts to legal instrumentalism i.e. 
'the view that the law should be used as a tool to achieve social purposes and to 
balance competing societal interests'.
39
As indicated in Chapter 1 and explored in 
much more detail in Chapter 4, state necessity is an important feature in Pakistan's 
34
HLA Hart, 'Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals' (1958) 71(4) Harvard Law Review 
593. 
35
Reza Banakar, Merging Law and Sociology: Beyond the Dichotomies of Socio-Legal Research (Galda 
and Wilch 2003). 
36
Douglas Vick, 'Interdisciplinarity and the Discipline of Law' (2004) 31 Journal of Law and Society 
163. 
37
J. B. Balkin, 'Interdisciplinarity as Colonization' (1996) 53(3) Washington and Lee Law Review 
949. 
38
ibid. 
39
Thomas Richard Harry, The Gathering of the Clan: An Independent Political Option for 
America (iUniverse 2009) 45. 

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16 
constitutional history and especially its judicial interpretation. Gardner discusses 
instrumentalism by reference to its extension to necessity.
40
He believes that 'it may 
seem unacceptable even to contemplate the replacement of the norms of a 
democracy by the acceptance of refractory conduct as being justified'.
41
The 
refractory conduct as indicated by Gardner, in the context of this thesis, is the 
conduct of the judges in applying the doctrine of state necessity in Pakistan. The 
researcher, therefore, does not fully agree with Gardner, as the constitutional 
history of Pakistan as critically evaluated in Chapter 3 has proved that democracy 
can be compromised to safeguard the unity and integrity of the state.
The researcher for the first part of his thesis applies the list of steps set out by 
Hutchinson and Duncan to solve a specific legal problem using the doctrinal 
method.
42
The researcher has adapted those steps into a four-step approach to 
conduct the research in this document. The first two steps are related to positivism 
and the remaining two steps to interpretivism. These steps are: 
1. Reading and evaluating background material 
2. Collecting relevant facts 
3. Analysing the issues 
4. Drawing a tentative conclusion 
In the context of this project, the background material entailed a broad stream of 
material and there was always a potential risk of focus shifting. To stay focused the 
researcher's rationale for selection was confined to the material directly related to 
the research questions. The other important issue was the authenticity and 
reliability of the background material.
The scope of the background material to be considered was, therefore, limited to 
primary sources such as case law, and theoretical and analytic sources such as 
jurisprudence, philosophy and political science. The areas that came within the 
40
Simon Gardner, 'Instrumentalism and Necessity' (1986) 6(3) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 431 
431. 
41
ibid. 
42
Terry Hutchinson and Nigel Duncan, 'Defining and Describing What We Do: Doctrinal Legal 
Research' (2012) 17(1) Deakin Law Review 106. 

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17 
scope of the investigation were necessity, premature dissolution of legislatures, 
democratic federalism and the key factors chosen for analysis as discussed above.
In the doctrinal method, sources of the law are located and then the law is 
interpreted and analysed.
43
Locating the source of law is an attempt to determine 
an objective reality by the researcher.
44
The researcher is locating the objective 
reality of what the law is rather than what it should be.
The next step is to separate the relevant facts from the background material. In the 
context of this thesis, the facts are premature dissolutions in the name of necessity 
and self-interest. 
The third step is analysis. This is carried out throughout chapters 4 and 5 leading 
to the fourth step i.e., the conclusion given in Chapter 6.