| Summary: | This study analyses politics in Pakistan viewed from the perspective of Bhutto and The Pakistan People's Party in the period 1967-1977. This involves a detailed consideration of the nature and performance of the PPP, in terms of its social composition, organisational development and its role in the political system, and of leadership patterns in Pakistan with special reference to Bhutto. In the process of this inquiry we examine the origin and rise of the PPP, its electoral performance in 1970 and the repercussions of the 1971 crisis on the party. In analysing the Bhutto regime in the period 1971-1977, we look at both the internal dynamics of the PPP in terms of its development as a patrimonial-clientele type party exhibiting some 'mass party' features, and Bhutto's relations with the political opposition, the civil bureaucracy and the military. This study attempts to apply the patrimonial model to Bhutto's political system. As a heuristic tool, this concept enables us to explain and relate a wide range of phenomena such as personalism, factionalism, patronage and corruption. The phenomena of a dominating figure as reflected in Bhutto's patrimonialism is viewed against the background of the country's colonial Viceregal tradition and related to its culture and social structure. Bhutto's patrimonial system is viewed as an adaptation of the Viceregal model. Patrimonial features such as the personalisation and concentration of power, the manipulation of clientele support from rural landed groups, and the primary reliance on bureaucratic, rather than participatory and representative instruments of rule are essentially those identified with the Viceregal pattern of governance. It is argued that Bhutto's patrimonial strategy not only resulted in a failure to develop the PPP into an institutionalised party of the type associated with 'modern' political systems, but served to inhibit political development and reinforce Pakistan's praetorian tradition. The materials used in this thesis include official publications, political party literature, Urdu and English language newspapers and magazines as well as information derived through personal interviews with prominent personalities.
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