Selling Democracy: Publicity Campaigns and Basic Democracies Elections, 1959-60

Media Mobilization, Authoritarian Legitimacy, and the Ayub Khan Regime

Abstract

This research examines a nationwide publicity campaign and subsequently elections of Basic Democracies held in 1959-60 under the Ayub regime. It explored that how a state-led campaign was used in legitimizing a new political order in Pakistan. Upon assuming power in 1958, General Muhammad Ayub Khan offered a localized, non-partisan form of political system as an alternative to the parliamentary systems with objective to promote stability, discipline and civic responsibilities aligning with the perceived social realities in Pakistan. The regime orchestrated a massive publicity campaign that involved mobilization of print media, Radio Pakistan, posters as well as official speeches in order to generate an articulate narrative for renewal of democratic institutions. The campaign helped mobilizing public for participating and contesting local bodies elections in both the wings of Pakistan.  The paper brings out that how the regime propagated the new political system along with the projection of the image of Ayub Khan as a modernist reformer and the mastermind of a new state, that was progressive and modern. It was a combination of institutional outreach and leader-based publicity which contributed to the strengthening of the legitimacy of the military regime in the name of democratic reconstruction.