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State-building in Afghanistan: a case showing the limits?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2011

Lucy Morgan Edwards
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Abstract

Since the 1990s, the concept of ‘state-building’ has become the means by which intervenors have attempted to tackle ‘state failure/fragility’. The ‘ideal’ referred to when attempting to do this – both theoretically and in practice – has been that of the classic ‘nation-state’ as developed by Max Weber. To answer the question posed by the title above, the article first looks generally at the evolution of the current state-building paradigm and global governance discourse. Second, a background of historical attempts at state-building in Afghanistan is given. Third, an assessment is made of the international community's approach to Afghanistan since 2001. Finally, the appropriateness of replicating a Weberian state-building model onto more traditional societies such as Afghanistan – where modes of governance and authority are often informal, complex, and characterized by historical and charismatic sources of legitimacy – is addressed. Until now, such contexts have barely been acknowledged, still less understood, by intervenors. Today, however, some academics are beginning to outline an alternative response to state fragility, recognizing more traditional sources of legitimacy and a hybridity of political order.

Type
Socio-political and Humanitarian Environment
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 92 , Issue 880: Conflict in Afghanistan I , December 2010 , pp. 967 - 991
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2011

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References

1 Martin Kipping, Two Interventions: Comparing Soviet and US-led State-building in Afghanistan, The Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), Thematic Report, January 2010, available at: http://aan-afghanistan.com/uploads/AAN_Two_Interventions.pdf (last visited 8 February 2011).

2 In Somalia, continued instability ensures the government an ongoing revenue stream and allows it to maintain a façade of ‘importance’, as discussed in Menkhaus, Ken, ‘Governance without government in Somalia: spoilers, state building, and the politics of coping’, in International Security, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 74–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 M. Kipping, above note 1, p. 13.

4 Ibid.

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9 Ibid., pp. 1–2.

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12 See e.g. Max Weber, Economy and Society, edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, Bedminster Press, New York, 1968.

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15 Ibid., p. 2.

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17 See Tobias Debiel and Daniel Lambach, Global Governance Meets Local Politics: On Western State-building and the Resilience of Hybrid Political Orders, paper presented at the Global Conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) 2010, Sydney, Australia, 6–10 July 2010.

18 Volker Boege, Anne Brown, Kevin Clements, and Anna Nolan, On Hybrid Political Orders and Emerging States: State Formation in the Context of ‘Fragility’, Berghof Research Centre for Constructive Conflict Management, Berlin, 2008, p. 3.

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

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31 T. Debiel and D. Lambach, above note 17, p. 3.

32 Ibid.

33 Angelo Rasanayagam, Afghanistan: A Modern History, IB Tauris, London, 2004.

34 Ibid, p. 23.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Louis Dupree, Afghanistan, 1980 edition, Rama Press, New Delhi, 1980, p. 659.

38 Ibid.

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42 Gary C. Schroen, First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan, Ballantine Books, New York, 2004.

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44 Ibid.

45 Cyrus Hodes and Mark Sedra, The Search for Security in Post-Taliban Afghanistan, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, August 2007.

46 John Kampfner, Blair's Wars, Free Press, London, 2003, p. 146.

47 Barnett R. Rubin, Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition from Turmoil to Normalcy, Council Special Report No. 12, Council on Foreign Relations Press, March 2006, pp. 5–6.

48 The author was present at the Emergency Loya Jirga in June 2002 and has written about what happened in her forthcoming book, The Afghan Solution: The Untold Story of Abdul Haq, the CIA and how Western Hubris Lost Afghanistan, to be published in 2011.

49 T. Debiel and D. Lambach, above note 17, p. 3.

50 Sarah Lister, Understanding State-building and Local Government in Afghanistan, Crisis States Research Centre, LSE, Working Paper No. 14, London, 2007, available at: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/research/crisisStates/Publications/phase2papers.aspx (last visited 8 February 2011).

51 C. Hodes and M. Sedra, above note 45.

52 S. Lister, above note 50.

53 Various articles published by the New York Times, including that on the Kabul Bank by Dexter Filkins, and leaked cables published by WikiLeaks in November 2010.

54 S. Lister, above note 50.

55 Ibid., p. 13.

56 Ibid.

57 C. Hodes and M. Sedra, above note 45.

58 Author's experience of meetings between the international community and Afghan government on DIAG in Kabul, 2005. See also Andrew Wilder, A House Divided? Analysing the 2005 Afghan Elections, Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), 2005, available at: http://www.areu.org.af/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=&task=doc_download&gid=254 (last visited 7 January 2011).

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61 S. Lister, above note 50, pp. 15–16.

62 V. Boege et al., above note 18, p. 6.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid., pp. 6–13.

65 Kevin P. Clements, ‘Note on building effective, legitimate and resilient state institutions’, Headline Seminar on Deteriorating Governance, presented at the World Bank, Washington DC, April 2009, p. 4, available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTLICUS/Resources/511777-1224016350914/5474500-1257529177557/Notes_Clements_Institution_Building_HS_Apr8_09.pdf (last visited 25 January 2011).

66 Paul Collier analyses these factors in The Bottom Billion, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.

67 K. P. Clements, above note 65, p. 1.

68 Ibid.

69 Ibid., p. 2.

70 Ibid., p. 3.

71 Ibid. Clements indicates that the argument in his paper is based on the three ‘ideal types of legitimacy’ as espoused by Max Weber, i.e. ‘legitimacy based on (1) Rational grounds – “resting on a belief in the “legality” of patterns of normative rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue commands (legal authority). (2) Traditional grounds – resting on an established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions and the legitimacy of the status of those exercising authority under them (traditional authority); or finally (3) Charismatic grounds – resting on devotion to the specific and exceptional sanctity, heroism and exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him (charismatic authority)” ’. Ibid., p. 3, note 5, quoting M. Weber, above note 12, p. 46. Clements explains how Weber has thus ‘firmly linked the question of legitimacy to specific modes of production, particular types of decision-making and law-making processes and wider theories of social change’ (ibid.).

72 Douglass C. North, John Joseph Wallis, Steven B. Webb, and Barry R. Weingast, ‘Limited access orders in the developing world: a new approach to the problem of development’, The World Bank, Policy Research Working Paper No. 4359, Washington DC, 2007, available at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2007/09/19/000158349_20070919115851/Rendered/PDF/WPS4359.pdf (last visited 8 February 2011).

73 A. Wennmann, above note 14, p. 26.

74 D. C. North et al. above note 72, p. 5.

75 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The State's Legitimacy in Fragile Situations: Unpacking Complexity, Conflict and Fragility Series, OECD, Paris, 2010, p. 54.

76 Ibid.

77 K. Menkhaus, above note 2.

78 Klaus Schlichte and Alex Veit, Coupled Arenas: Why State-building is so Difficult, Junior Research Group ‘Micropolitics for Armed Groups’, Humboldt University, Berlin, Working Papers Micropolitics No. 3, 2007, p. 26.

79 M. Kipping, above note 1.

80 K. P. Clements, above note 65, p. 3.

81 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

82 Marina Ottaway and Anatol Lieven, Rebuilding Afghanistan: Fantasy versus Reality, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Policy Brief No. 12, 2002, available at: http://carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=883 (last visited 8 February 2011).

83 K. P. Clements, above note 65, p. 3.

84 Ibid., p. 4.

85 Ibid.

86 Guest, Ken, Seeger, RAM, and Edwards, Lucy Morgan, ‘The tribal path: commanding the prime battle space: a more hopeful strategy for Afghanistan’, in Small Wars Journal, March 2010Google Scholar, available at: http://www.the-beacon.info/images/Tribal%20path%20May%2027.pdf (last visited 11 January 2011).

87 K. P. Clements, above note 65, p. 1.

88 K. Menkhaus, above note 2, pp. 74–106.

89 V. Boege et al., above note 18.

90 Ibid., p. 10.

91 K. Guest, RAM Seeger and L. Morgan Edwards, above note 86.

92 A. Wennmann, above note 14, p. 27, emphasis in original.

93 See K. P. Clements, above note 65, p. 5.

94 Masood Karokhail and Susanne Schmeidl, ‘Integration of traditional structures into the state-building process: lessons from the Tribal Liaison Office in Loya Paktia’, in Heinrich Böll Foundation (ed.), Issue 1: Afghanistan, Publication Series on Promoting Democracy in Fragile States under Conditions of State Fragility, Berlin, 2006, pp. 59–78, available at: http://www.tlo-afghanistan.org/sites/default/files/About-TLO/Boell-Afghanistan-en-Integration-of-Traditional-Structures-into-the-State-building-Process.pdf (last visited 10 January 2011).

95 OECD, above note 75.

96 K. P. Clements, above note 65, p. 5.

97 Ibid., p. 6.

98 Ibid., p. 7.

99 OECD, above note 75.

100 de Waal, Alex, ‘Dollarised’, in London Review of Books, Vol. 32, No. 12, 24 June 2010Google Scholar.

101 K. P. Clements, above note 65.

102 OECD, above note 75, p. 59.

103 Ibid.

104 Simon Chesterman, Michael Ignatieff, and Ramesh Thakur (eds), Making States Work: State Failure and the Crisis of Governance, United Nations University Press, Tokyo, p. 384.