ABSTRACT
In April 1978, a military coup overthrew the regime of President Mohammad Daud in Afghanistan and brought the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) to power. The PDPA is a Marxist-Leninist party, established in 1965, that advocated a revolutionary socioeconomic and political transformation of Afghanistan. In contrast to the declining relevance of the rural population and tribes, the cities became particularly important in Afghan politics in the 1960s and the 1970s, largely because of the success of the governments modernization efforts. Although society experienced significant change during the 1950s and early 1960s, no serious incidents of political instability involving a challenge from alternative elites emerged until the mid-1960s. Until the 1950s, political participation in Afghanistan was largely confined to the tribal leaders, rural notables, and the leaders of the religious establishment, the ulema. The states limited private-capitalist economic development program of the 1930s and 1940s and the expanded industrial state-capitalist development programs of the 1950s were quite successful.
