Afghanistan – Challenges and Prospects

✍ Scribed by Srinjoy Bose; Nishank Motwani; William Maley (eds.)

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 279
• Series: Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

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.

✦ Table of Contents

1. Contextualising Afghanistan’s transitions: influences and challenges, Srinjoy Bose and William Maley

2. Neither war nor peace, Paula R. Newberg

Part I: The politics of the state

1. The state and community self-governance: paths to stability and human security in post-2014 Afghanistan, M. Nazif Shahrani

2. State strength and the rule of law, William Maley

3. Revenue and statebuilding in Afghanistan, Nematullah Bizhan

Part II: State, society and governance

1. Getting the politics right: beyond ‘good governance’ in Afghanistan, Jonathan Goodhand

2. Strongman provincial governance, Dipali Mukhopadhyay

3. Afghanistan’s political parties: a tale of incomplete reform and transformation, Srinjoy Bose and Niamatullah Ibrahimi

Part III: Social change

1. Afghan youth and ‘soft radicalisation’: emerging social forces, Shaharzad Akbar

2. Challenges to sustainable livelihoods and socio-economic development in a post-ISAF environment, Mahmoda Sonia Eqbal

3. Internal displacement in afghanistan: the tip of the iceberg, Susanne Schmeidl

Part IV: Afghanistan and the world

1. Mapping the future of US–Pakistan relations vis-à-vis Afghanistan post-withdrawal, Frédéric Grare

2. Prospects for Iran and Afghan Relations, Shahram Akbarzadeh

3. Afghanistan and the regional insecurity contagion, Nishank Motwani

4. Neutrality and its place in Afghanistan’s foreign policy, Nasir A. Andisha