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Archive for the ‘Afghanistan’ Category

New OECD Report: “Do No Harm: International Support for Statebuilding”

Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Despite the best of intentions, donors can inadvertently undermine statebuilding processes. When the resources they deliver or the reforms they advocate weaken rather than strengthen the state’s decision- and policy-making functions, their efforts can do more harm than good. Donors can also do harm by creating a brain drain away from state organizations. When aid [...]

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Politicophobia: How the UN Fails Afghanistan

Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on January 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

In a parliamentary democracy with a president at the executive helm, it is one of the former’s most critical prerogatives to review, approve or potentially reject the latter’s cabinet. This is the procedure followed in the U.S. and many other countries in the world. Even the otherwise weak European Parliament in Strasbourg retains the right [...]

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Gary Gaile Development Geography Pre-Conference in DC

Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, Health and Development, International Politics, Urban Politics on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

The Development Geographies Specialty Group of the AAG is delighted to present the “Gary Gaile Development Geography Pre-Conference” in Washington, DC, a one-day event in April 2010 which is themed around innovative policies and approaches emerging at the interface of research and practice.
Merging debate around cutting edge research and acute practical challenges, the format and [...]

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Comparing Afghan Apples With Vietnamese Oranges, or Why There Is No Solution For Afghanistan

Posted in Afghanistan, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on December 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there would have been a solution for Afghanistan, one that had a realistic chance of success. “Success” would have meant a stabilization of the modest gains made during the first three of the post-war years (2002-2004), and the “solution” would have looked roughly as follows: a highly [...]

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New Article in Critical Planning

Posted in Afghanistan, Peace and Conflict, Urban Politics on September 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

The key questions that I am posing in this article are: how can we explain city-level politics in two countries located at the very fringes of global capitalism, and how can a resulting reconfigured theoretical framework be integrated into an international comparative urban research agenda.
Contemporary Sierra Leone and Afghanistan present major structural differences compared to [...]

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Afghanistan Commentary on Swedish Radio

Posted in Afghanistan, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on September 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

For the Swedish speakers among you, check out Marcus Hansson’s 20-minute feature on Afghanistan’s botched reconstruction, broadcast on September 2, 2009 on Swedish Radio 1.
It includes interviews with several international observers. For instance, Antonio Donini at the Fletcher School comments on the aid industry and the discrepancy between its global mobility and its lack of [...]

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Afghanistan Health Profile Downloadable

Posted in Afghanistan, Health and Development, Peace and Conflict on July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

A new profile of health challenges in Afghanistan can be downloaded from the teaching page of this website (see courses listed under ‘Spring 2009′). Authored by over thirty graduate students at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and compiled by Kathleen Chan, it provides an up-to-date and concise overview of epidemiological factors impacting on [...]

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Afghanistan: A Victory for Women – A Defeat of Democracy?

Posted in Afghanistan, Health and Development, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on July 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »

The Afghan Ministry of Justice has presented a revised version of a new law regulating marital affairs for the country’s Shi’ite minority. Many of its previous medieval provisions have been scrapped. No longer does it prescribe the frequency of sexual activity that Shi’ite women in Afghanistan would have had to observe, thus practically legalizing domestic [...]

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