George Tsebelis: The Veto Player Theory

4. Theoretical framework and concepts
George Tsebelis, in his veto players theory (2002), discusses the right or the ability of an individual or multiple corporate actors to block a certain policy process, which is seen as an explanatory factor for policy change because they can either block change in favor of status quo or support change by blocking decisions in other areas and claiming change on a given issue in exchange for relinquishing the veto power. Because only few actors or institutions have a factual power (either by means of the law, or by huge power asymmetries), these factors are usually not reported when we analyze policy matters.
The study will use this theory, which was first analyzed in 1995 in The British Journal of Political

In this regard, he says that the veto players theory is effective when it deals with cohesive and/or disciplined parties, not when the study cases deal with non-cohesive parties and individual preferences, as we cannot have detailed information in order to accurately predict their political actions. Ganghof also presents the problem of identification of the veto players, as it is in the case of minority cabinets that don't have much power in the parliament to challende the status quo. In this context, Tsebelis counts only the cabinets as veto players and not the party or parties that support the minority cabinets to make a policy change . Ganghof and Bräuninger consider the role of these supporting parties as essential.
According to Merkel, Tsebelis should have put an emphasis on the distinction between larger and smaller veto players as they have different power resources regarding the ability to change policies, and in most cases a larger coalition has a greater veto potential than a smaller one. In addition to this, Merkel address the problem of measuring the policy congruence between the veto players or their cohesiveness, suggesting that a simple approach of policies in terms of one dimension, for example the right-left ideology, which doesn't compliment the various contexts and policies that might

However, for this study I consider the elite power model a more suitable framework in order to analyze and understand who the powerful elite groups are that impose their will against any attempt of policy change in Pakistan with regards to the controversial blasphemy laws.
Theoreticians of the power elite approach, such as Mosca, Pareto and C. Wright Mills, analyzed the concept of power either by using the theory of "circulating elites" that can go from the elitist status to the non-elitist one based on various political and economic circumstances, or Mills who introduced the idea of a power elite triangle that encompasses groups from the political, economic and military field, which impose their will to satisfy their interests.
However, there are elite theorists that defend the idea of elite groups defined by "combinations of social status, economic resources, and institutional positions, who achieve a degree of unity through common backgrounds, coinciding interests, and social