Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Propaganda

Int'l law. 1. The systematic dissemination of doctrine, rumor, or selected information to promote or injure a particular doctrine, view, or cause. 2. The ideas or information so disseminated. "As early as the Middle Ages, both the Church and worldly powers had realised that public opinion was of importance in their struggles with each other [R]ulers thought it necessary to put their case before public opinion in neutral and hostile countries, though they did their best to prevent any 'seditious' material from abroad reaching their own loyal subjects. The position changed with the growth of democracy and of the demand for the popular control of foreign affairs. Then propaganda became an indispensable secondary weapon of power politics both in peace and war." Georg Schwarzenberger, Power Politics: A Study of International Society 166-67 (2d ed. 1951).