“You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I’m innocent. You’ve got to believe I’m innocent. If you don’t, take my job.” – Richard M. Nixon.

Institutionalization has a primary objective of stopping the state from doing coercive activities. Today marks the anniversary of an investigation of a major political crisis, namely the Watergate Scandal. Widely held the most potent democracy of the time, the United States was caught in a constitutional crisis after the investigation started. President Richard Nixon’s administration was caught red handed breaking and entering into their opposing party’s office - the Democratic National Committee. This sparked a series of investigations by the US Congress, in which it was discovered that the state intelligence agency was being used to spy on Nixon’s political opponents. Linking this to the contemporary time in Pakistan, it is the Civil Society’s responsibility to hold institutions accountable. What sparked the US Congress to move towards impeachment of perhaps the most powerful man in the free world was the fear of backlash by the members of the polity. As Pakistan moves towards democratic maturation, a culture of civil society needs to spring up even further, ensuring institutions perform their functions.