Abstract
The local government is one of the vital organs of the state through which programs of development are formulated and implemented for the community. The democratically elected members at the local government level represented the community and advocate the interests of the community in the social and economic development of the area. The research paper has thoroughly described the existing local government system of Pakistan and also has investigated the critical causes of bad governance in the local government system of Pakistan that hinders the social and economic development of the country. This is a qualitative study; the researcher reviewed and synthesized all the available information gathered from the various sources related to the local government governance in Pakistan. The researcher in this research paper used secondary source of information and observations. Since the introduction of parliamentary form of democratic system in Pakistan, the country has gone through number of modifications and amendments in the local government system but due to the instability in the democratic system, the political governments had failed to deliver good public services at the local government levels. The study has identified major causes i.e Political, Social, Administrative and mismanagement of resources and rampant corruption, which have severely paralyzed the governance system at local government level of Pakistan.
Keywords. Governance, Local government, District government, Community empowerment.
JEL. D73, H10, H75.
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