All Politics Are Still Local: The Dynamics of International Domination and Endless War in Afghanistan attempts to solve the puzzle of botched reconstruction efforts in one of the most destitute countries in the world. The book argues that Afghanistan does not only provide just another example of the futility of externally imposed democratization; its experience also illustrates how international agencies have missed a historic chance of stabilization shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
2004 is widely regarded the most successful and indeed peaceful year in recent Afghan history. Since then, crucial development and security indicators have either stagnated or regressed. Drawing from interviews of international and Afghan development workers conducted between this high point and the present day, the book offers a longitudinal analysis of the underlying causes of failure, many of which can be traced to a neglect or misinterpretation of local politics.
A comparison of international policies as well as aid flows demonstrates how the exclusion of local actors from decision-making has been systematic in both the planning and practice of international assistance. At the core of this pattern lies a misconceived strategy for institutional development. National entities were strengthened to the detriment of local political structures, leaving the latter fragmented and excluded. At the same time, small and medium-sized businesses suffered from the international community’s reluctance to engage in local economic development.
All Politics Are Still Local sends three powerful messages: first, neither human development nor democracy can be imposed on Afghanistan; they can only be nurtured from the bottom to the top, which requires radical rethinking of international agendas for the country. Second, improved national and human security as intermediate functions depend on policies and programs that are more integrated but also more targeted, more patient while also being more consistent. Finally, ’success’ in Afghanistan is still possible but it hinges on the political flexibility of international agencies, its definition is subject to local expectations, and it will likely look different from what world leaders imagined during the early phase of recovery.
The manuscript will be ready for copy-editing in mid-2010.
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State-Building From Below: Understanding Urban Resilience challenges scholars, practitioners and students of International Affairs and Development to reassess the potential of cities for state-building in fragile countries.
Critiquing normative conceptualizations of resilience that have so far dominated debates on state-building, the first part of the book develops an alternative understanding of resilience as a process that can cause positive as well as detrimental effects on effective and legitimate statehood. It translates the revised concept into local political, economic, social and cultural arenas and illustrates how cities in particular have been serving as incubators of different types of resilience.
Merging historical and primary data from over 150 interviews with local, national and international actors conducted in East Timor, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, the book then generates compelling evidence that the potential of urban institutions and city-based coalitions as central catalysts of recovery and resilience in these three prototypical fragile countries has so far been underappreciated.
The second part of the book presents case studies from a range of other countries which illustrate both the potential and limitations of resilience in the urban realm. Based on a comparative analysis, the concluding chapter offers concrete advice on how those types of resilience that have contributed to the (re)emergence of effective and legitimate statehood can be supported through external assistance while minimizing the risk inherent in other types.
State-Building From Below thus offers a timely analysis that engages academics and policy-makers in recasting state-building strategies in fragile settings in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America.
The manuscript is expected to be available for copy-editing in early 2011.
