On the face of it, the oath-taking ceremony on Aug. 18 for the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan was a set and familiar ritual that has been performed many times before. While watching Imran Khan arrive in the hall to go through the formalities, however, many things stood out as unique and uncharacteristic of Pakistan’s political culture, and its unstable, chaotic and conflictive political history.

This man, his struggle, ideology, charisma, background and social class make him a proverbial “outsider” in the elite politics of Pakistan. His rise to power through a competitive democratic process is a historic moment that might break many of the myths about the country, its society and the Pakistani people.

Over the past 71 years, Pakistanis have uncritically endured three political myths that have acquired the status of political beliefs. The first, that there was no alternative to dynastic politics, is deeply rooted in the feudal power structure of Pakistan. The people were made to believe that the only choice was between two dynastic political parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People's Party, and the military.

Sensing a threat to their grip on “democracy,” the two parties ganged up to “protect” the system. The two parallel political hierarchies controlled entry to politics by awarding party tickets, recruiting pliant members for assemblies, selecting important office holders and rewarding loyalty to the “chiefs” at the public expense. For half a century, power alternated between the leaders of the two parties.

The electoral system and the feudal order made it difficult for the non-traditional political challengers to rise. However, one of the remarkable things about democracy, good or bad, is that the system remains open to challengers, who might emerge from any class. Unlike the political leaders of the past, who emerged either from the feudal power base or from under the shadow of military regimes, Khan came from the rising middle class of Pakistan. The traditional political classes and the pundits dismissed his political ambitions and ideas of change as too idealistic to work in the country’s social and political climate.

However, Khan has some remarkable characteristics that made him stand out as a very different kind of political challenger to the family-controlled political establishments of the PML-N and the PPP. Many factors worked to his advantage. He is a national hero, an international icon and idol of the cricketing world. However, his path to this glory was marked by struggle, self-belief and determination. These are the qualities that make a man or a woman successful in any walk of life.

To succeed in an uncertain, chaotic and often unevenly paved political world, personal talents matter. In Khan’s case, these included ambition, commitment to working for the good of the people and the country, and perseverance in pursuit of change — the ideology he embraced.

Unlike the political leaders of the past, who emerged either from the feudal power base or from under the shadow of military regimes, Imran Khan came from the rising middle class of Pakistan.

Rasul Bakhsh Rais

Throughout history, we have seen that charisma, integrity, hard work and even the best of intentions are not always enough to achieve political success, if the national circumstances are not right. A forceful argument can be made that great men and women create the circumstances for their own success. Let me turn this viewpoint around the other way: They understand if and when the circumstances are right for them to take the plunge. Khan was able to sense the deep disappointment with the two dynastic parties, and the growing disgust over corruption and the misuse of power by dominant political leaders.

The revolving nature of power between military generals — often making corrupt deals with corrupt politicians — the PPP and the PML-N leaders had turned the system into an empty shell. Together and individually, they drained the system of any virtue, goodness, integrity or moral energy. The dirty politics of greed, cronyism and massive corruption robbed the masses of any faith in politics, the political process and even democracy itself.

Khan rose to the challenge of filling that moral vacuum in Pakistani politics. People sometimes confuse morality, or moral politics, with ethics. Actually, moral politics is the sum of the positive gains produced by the rule of law in a society. Khan very intelligently focused on corruption, justice, the rule of law and governance. His narrative of change, reflecting these issues, finally caught the imagination of people that had lost faith in the old-style politics.

A large part of Pakistan that Khan wanted to change had already changed, which turned his mission from impossible to very possible. We can see evidence of that change in the rise of the middle classes, both in rural and urban areas, and the expansion of the media that carried Khan’s narrative so consistently in every village, community and part of the country. There has been a growing yearning among the educated youth for clean, meaningful and developmental politics. It is here that they see their best chances for individual growth and future prospects.

Finally, Khan earned the trust of the public with his message of hope, symbolized by his personal integrity, leadership and a vision of transforming Pakistan into a country where citizens can once again be proud of their “green passport.”

One last word of caution: Assuming office is not the end of Khan’s journey but only the start. It is the beginning of a path that he promised — to change Pakistan for good.

• Rasul Bakhsh Rais is professor of political science in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, LUMS, Lahore. His latest book is “Islam, Ethnicity and Power Politics: Constructing Pakistan’s National Identity” (Oxford University Press, 2017). Twitter: @RasulRais