Inside Afghanistan : political networks, informal order, and state disruption / Timor Sharan.

Author
Sharan, Timor [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Abindgon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023.
Description
xix, 332 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Details

Subject(s)
Series
Routledge contemporary South Asia series ; 154. [More in this series]
Summary note
"This book maps out how political networks and centres of power, engaged in patronage, corruption, and illegality, effectively constituted the Afghan state, often with the complicity of the U.S.-led military intervention and the internationally-directed state-building project. It argues that politics and statehood in Afghanistan, in particular in the last two decades, including the ultimate collapse of the government in August 2021, is best understood in terms of the dynamics of internal political networks, through which warlords and patronage networks came to capture and control key sectors within the state and economy, including mining, banking, and illicit drugs as well as elections and political processes. The façade of state survival and political order was a performative act, the book contends, sustained through massive international military spending and development aid, obscuring the reality of resource redistribution among key networked elites and their supporters. Overall, the book offers a way to explain what it was that the international community and the Afghan elites in power got so wrong that brought Afghanistan full circle, and the Taliban back to power"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
  • 9781138280151
  • 1138280151 ((hardback))
  • 9781032334943 ((paperback))
  • 1032334940 ((paperback))
LCCN
2022012931
OCLC
1336407698
Statement on responsible collection description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
Other views
Staff view

Supplementary Information