Author: Hasan Kawun Kakar
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292767781
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 374
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Book Description
An authoritative study of the administrative, social, and economic structure of Afghanistan at the beginning of the twentieth century. Government and Society in Afghanistan covers a decisive stage in the country’s history. The period covered—the reign of the “Iron” Amir Rahman Khan—was in many ways the beginning of modern Afghanistan as a cohesive nation. It was under the Amir that its borders were established, its internal unification completed, and the modern concept of nationhood implanted. Hsan Kawun Kakar considers both the internal and the external forces that influenced Afghanistan’s development. Thus, modernization, centralization, and nationalization are seen as both defensive reactions to European imperialism and a necessary step toward capital formation and industrialization. The first part of the book covers the government of the Amir, from the personality of the ruler to a comprehensive overview of taxation and local government. The second part views these economic and social institutions from the perspective of the major segments of the populace—including nomads, townsmen, tribes, women, slaves, landowners, mullahs, merchants, and others.
Author: Thomas Barfield
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691154414
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
Traces the political history of Afghanistan from the sixteenth century to the present, looking at what has united the people as well as the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them.
Author: Richard S. Newell
Publisher: Ithaca [N.Y.] : Cornell University Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
Author: Antonio Giustozzi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
This book is the first to analyze the institutions, successes, and failures of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, the pro-Soviet regime that sought to dominate the country during the years of the Soviet military presence. Antonio Giustozzi explores the military, political, and social strategies of the predominantly urban and Marxist regime as it struggled--and ultimately failed--to win the support of a largely rural and Islamic population. Drawing on many Soviet materials not previously used by Western writers, including unpublished Red Army documents and interviews with participants, Giustozzi provides valuable new insights into the cold war and the rise of Islamic revolt.
Author: Asta Olesen
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0700702997
Category : Afghanistan
Languages : en
Pages : 367
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Book Description
The years 1978 and 1979 were dramatic throughout south and western Asia. In Iran, the Pahlavi dynasty was toppled by an Islamic revolution. In Pakistan, Zulfigar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the military regime that toppled him and which then proceeded to implement an Islamization programme. Between the two lay Afghanistan whose "Saur Revolution" of April 1978 soon developed into a full scale civil war and Soviet intervention. The military struggle that followed was largely influenced by Soviet-US rivalry but the ideological struggle followed a dynamic of its own. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including such previously unused archival material as British Intelligence reports, this is a detailed study of the Afghan debate on the role of Islam in politics from the formation of the modern Afghan state around 1800 to the present day.
Author: Srinjoy Bose
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351666762
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
After decades of turmoil a new phase is opening up for Afghanistan, in which a new generation comes to the fore as many of the key players from earlier phases, including foreign interventionist powers, leave the scene. Although this new phase offers new possibilities and increased hope for Afghanistan’s future, the huge problems created in earlier phases remain. This book presents a comprehensive overall assessment of the current state of politics and society in Afghanistan, outlining the difficulties and discussing the future possibilities. Many of the contributors are Afghans or Afghan insiders, who are able to put forward a much richer view of the situation than outside foreign observers.
Author: Scott Seward Smith
Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Press
ISBN: 9781601271822
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Building an enduring and stable political consensus in Afghanistan's complex, multiactor environment requires clear analysis of the conflict. Getting It Right in Afghanistan addresses the real drivers of the insurgency, how Afghanistan's neighbors can contribute to peace in the region, and the need for more inclusive political arrangements in peace and reconciliation processes.
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437927416
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 31
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Book Description
In the context of a review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan during September-November 2009, the performance and legitimacy of the Afghan government figured prominently. In his December 1, 2009, speech announcing a way forward in Afghanistan, President Obama stated that the Afghan government would be judged on performance, and "The days of providing a blank check are over." The policy statement was based, in part, on an assessment of the security situation furnished by the top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, which warned of potential mission failure unless a fully resourced classic counterinsurgency strategy is employed. That counterinsurgency effort is deemed to require a legitimate Afghan partner. The Afghan government's limited writ and widespread official corruption are believed by U.S. officials to be helping sustain a Taliban insurgency and complicating international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. At the same time, President Hamid Karzai has, through compromise with faction leaders, been able to confine ethnic disputes to political competition, enabling his government to focus on trying to win over those members of the ethnic Pashtun community that support Taliban and other insurgents.
Author: David S. Law
Publisher:
ISBN: 1108674267
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 612
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Book Description
With its emphasis on emerging and cutting-edge debates in the study of comparative constitutional law and politics, its suitability for both research and teaching use, and its distinguished and diverse cast of contributors, this handbook is a must-have for scholars and instructors alike. This versatile volume combines the depth and rigor of a scholarly reference work with features for teaching in law and social science courses. Its interdisciplinary case-study approach provides political and historical as well as legal context: each modular chapter offers an overview of a topic and a jurisdiction, followed by a case study that simultaneously contextualizes both. Its forward-looking and highly diverse selection of topics and jurisdictions fills gaps in the literature on the Global South as well as the West. A timely section on challenges to liberal constitutional democracy addresses pressing concerns about democratic backsliding and illiberal and/or authoritarian regimes.
Author: Congressional Research Congressional Research Service
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781503188020
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 62
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Book Description
The capacity, transparency, legitimacy, and cohesiveness of Afghan governance are crucial to Afghan stability as U.S.-led NATO forces exit Afghanistan by 2016. The size and capability of the Afghan governing structure has increased significantly since the Taliban regime fell in late 2001. But, the government remains rife with corruption and ethnic and political tensions among its major factions are ever present. Hamid Karzai, who served as president since late 2001, was constitutionally term-limited and left office when his successor, Ashraf Ghani, was inaugurated on September 29. The inauguration represented a resolution of an election dispute that consumed Afghan and U.S. official attention from April to September. The results of the April 5, 2014, first round of the election required a June 14 runoff between Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Ghani. The runoff increased ethnic tensions between Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest group represented by Ghani, and the second-largest group, the Tajiks, with whom Abdullah is identified. Amid accusations by Abdullah of a fraud-inspired large increase in turnout between the two rounds, preliminary results released July 7 showed Ghani ahead 56% to 44%. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Afghanistan twice to broker an agreement by the two candidates that tamped down threats by faction leaders loyal to Abdullah to seize power by force. The two contenders agreed to a recount of all 23,000 ballot boxes and to the formation of a post-election unity government under which the losing candidate will become "Chief Executive Officer" (CEO) of the government. The CEO is to function as a prime minister, pending a subsequent national deliberation over changing the constitution to create a formal prime ministerial post. On September 21, the two candidates formally signed the power-sharing agreement and Ghani was announced as election winner. Ghani was sworn in as president on September 29 and immediately appointed Abdullah as CEO. The resolution paved the way for the long-delayed signing of formal agreements to permit U.S. and NATO deployments to a post-2014 international mission to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations. Since taking office, Ghani has signaled he will make curbing governmental corruption and promoting women's rights key priorities. The election dispute was consequential because the constitution concentrates substantial power in the presidency. However, Ghani's authority will be constrained not only by the power-sharing arrangement with Abdullah as well as by an informal power structure consisting of regional and ethnic leaders. Faction leaders often maintain groups of armed fighters who often exercise arbitrary administration of justice and commit human rights abuses. International observers assert that there have been significant gains in civil society, women's rights, and media freedoms since 2001. Those gains have come despite the persistence of traditional attitudes and Islamic conservatism in many parts of Afghanistan-attitudes that cause the judicial and political system to tolerate child marriages and imprisonment of women who flee domestic violence. Islamist influence and tradition has also frequently led to persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity, and to curbs on the sale of alcohol and on Western-oriented media programs. Afghan civil society activists, particularly women's groups, assert that many of these gains are at risk as international forces depart, especially should there be a reconciliation agreement between the government and insurgent leaders. See also CRS Report RL30588, Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, by Kenneth Katzman.
