The Role of Higher Bureaucracy in Shaping Policy Culture in Pakistan: A Case Study of Ayub Khan’s Era (1958–1969)

Abstract

This paper focuses on the higher bureaucracy and its influence in constructing the culture of policy-making in Pakistan during Ayub Khan's rule from 1958 to 1969. The term bureaucracy was coined in the early 18th century in Western Europe, referring to systems of administration that pursue rationality in governance. The colonial British-Indian civil service structure was retained in newly independent Pakistan and gradually transformed into the Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP), which is reminiscent of the Indian Civil Services (ICS) cadres in terms of autonomy and orientation. This paper identified the Ayub era as a turning point wherein bureaucratic influence combined with military authority to shape the socio-political and the policy-making systems. For this reason, this research seeks to fill the theoretical and empirical voids by examining the structural dynamics, administrative culture, and effect of higher bureaucracy during this developmental phase. The Ayub era develops the discussion on Pakistan’s bureaucratic institutional evolution by discussing the primary sources and the general experiences of bureaucratic practices and procedural reforms and practices in the context of primary and secondary sources.