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Browsing Faculty by Subject "Afghanistan"

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    Informal Justices and the International Community in Afghanistan
    (United States Institute of Peace, 2013-04) Coburn, Noah
    This report analyzes the array of programs that dealt with the so-called informal justice sector in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2011. It focuses on a series of pilot projects sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace that engaged local Afghan organizations at the district and provincial levels to observe and record how informal justice systems resolve (or fail to resolve) people’s disputes, and how informal and formal justice actors relate to each other in practice. It also examines the expanding role of international actors in local dispute resolution and the impact that such interventions have had on local practices and perceptions of justice. The report finds that the informal justice sector provides a pervasive and effective, if sometimes flawed, venue for the majority of the Afghan population to access justice and argues that the international community should commit more fully to supporting local informal justice mechanisms.
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    Justifying the Means: Afghan Perceptions of Electoral Processes
    (United States Institute of Peace, 2013-03) Coburn, Noah; Larson, Anna
    This report focuses on local perceptions of the 2014 presidential elections in Afghanistan. It situates the elections within growing concerns about the political uncertainty of the upcoming transition and explores what Afghans might consider to be a “free and fair” poll in this context. The report details the findings from over fifty interviews conducted with respondents from three different regions of the country, both male and female, and representing all of the major ethnic groups. This research, funded by the United States Institute of Peace, builds, in particular, on earlier in-depth studies of the 2009 and 2010 elections conducted for the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.
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    Losing Legitimacy? Some Afghan Views on the Government, the International Community, and the 2009 Elections
    (Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), 2009-11) Coburn, Noah
    Table of Contents No Single Opinion; Elections and Legitimacy; Has the Karzai Government been “Delegitimised?”; Have Elections in Afghanistan been “Delegitimised?”; The International Community: The Real Culprits?; Outcome as Opposed to Process; The Road from Here?
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    Myths and Misconceptions in the Afghan Transition
    (United States Institute of Peace, 2012-04-09) Coburn, Noah; Miakhel, Shahmahmood
    The coming period of transition to Afghan control of national security will require greater cooperation and understanding between all parties. Cooperation between the international community, the Afghan government and local communities is currently being undermined by a series of myths and assumptions which stem from the unstable conditions, a perceived lack of shared interests and a handful of highly publicized incidents. The international community often underestimates local capacity for governance in Afghanistan and ignores the success that Afghanistan did have with self-rule for much of the 20th century. Local Afghan communities are skeptical of the aims of both counterinsurgency and state-building measures, as projects, such as internationally sponsored elections, have failed to yield anticipated results despite the continued presence of international troops. There is an urgent need to rethink some of the assumptions on both sides of the table which threaten to undermine the long-term prospects for peace in Afghanistan.
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    The Politics of Dispute Resolution and Continued Instability in Afghanistan
    (United States Institute of Peace, 2011-08) Coburn, Noah
    This report argues that the assumed formal–informal dichotomy between justice systems in Afghanistan misdescribes the way in which most cases in the country are resolved. In fact, analysis in late 2010 of data from ongoing research and pilot projects sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace shows that most disputes have been handled by a combination of the two justice systems, with actors in each assuming different roles depending on the location and context of the dispute as well as on the parties involved, which has serious implications for many of the international programs recently created to engage the informal sector. Furthermore, this report suggests that the greatest barrier to local dispute resolution in Afghanistan is the current lack of security and political stability, which has made it more difficult for those involved in either formal or informal dispute-resolution systems to interact effectively.
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    Undermining Representative Governance: Afghanistan’s 2010 Parliamentary Election and Its Alienating Impact
    (Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), 2011-02) Coburn, Noah; Larson, Anna
    This paper analyses the 2010 election as it happened in three provinces (Kabul, Balkh and Paktya), providing insight into the preparations, process and results in these areas. It situates the election in its political and historical context, drawing on an extensive two-year study by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) of Afghan perspectives on elections.