Constitutional Law and the Politics of Ethnic Accommodation

Institutional Design in Afghanistan

Bashir Mobasher (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

158 Seiten

2023
Routledge (Verlag)
978-0-367-71541-0 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

This book explores whether the legal and political institutions of Afghanistan have been able to incorporate diverse ethnic groups into the political process

This book explores whether the legal and political institutions of Afghanistan were able to incorporate diverse ethnic groups into the political process. Ethnic accommodation has gained central stage in the literature on institutional design and democratic consolidation.

However, some divided societies are more explored than others, and Afghanistan is one understudied country that is critically important for testing and improving our theories of institutional design in a democratizing, plural society. This work examines the Constitution of 2004 and those provisions of electoral laws and political party laws that together devised Afghan political institutions including those of the presidential system, unitary government, electoral systems as well as the party system.

It argues that due to their incongruence in design and effects, the Afghan political institutions failed to fully accommodate ethnic groups in the political process. This book adopts a holistic approach, while also paying careful attention to the details of each of the individual pieces of political institutions designed by the Constitution of 2004. Taken together, this approach yields insights into the boundaries and interactions of institutional design and how their interactions hinder or advance ethnic accommodation in varying contexts.

The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy makers interested in constitutional law and politics.

Dr. Bashir Mobasher is a postdoctoral fellow at the American University’s Department of Sociology and a lecturer of political science at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).

Introduction: Ethnicity, Constitution, and Accommodation in Afghanistan

Identifying the Problem

The Search for an Explanation

A Way to Explore

Establishing the Parameters: Ethnic Accommodation

Organization of This Book

1 A Failed Nation or a Failed Constitution?: An Insight from the Inside of Afghanistan

Introduction

I. What Afghanistanologists Had to Say About Afghanistan

II. Were Afghans Anti- Democratic?

III. How Divided was Afghanistan as a Country and a Nation?

What did the Elites Say?

IV. A Socially Divorced Constitution

Conclusion

2 The Politics of Ethnic Accommodation under the Runoff System: A System of Coalition Making and Breaking

Introduction

I. Feature One: The 50 Percent Threshold

II. Feature Two: The Disastrous Second Rounds

III. Nonconcurrent Electoral Cycles

Conclusion

3 A Dysfunctional Parliament under the Yoke of the SNTV System: A System of Unrepresentative Representatives

Introduction

I. The Nuts and Bolts of the SNTV System

A. Feature One: Proportional Representation

B. Feature Two: Encouraging Personalistic Politics

C. Feature Three: Threshold- Free Elections

D. Feature Four: Encouraging the Fragmentation of Parties and Coalition

Conclusion

4 Constitutional Unchecks and Imbalances: Examining Ethnic Accommodation under a Strong Presidential System

Introduction

I. A Look at the Balance of Powers from Above

II. Legislative Powers of the President

1. Legislative Initiations

2. Veto Authority of the President

3. Soliciting Constitutional Review

4. Decree Authority of the President

5. Budget Planning

III. Executive Powers of the President vis-a-vis the House

1. Cabinet Formation

2. Endurance of Cabinet Members in Afghanistan

3. Changes in Administrative Units

IV. Senate: The Backyard of the President

Conclusion

5 A System of Dual Vice- Presidency: The Problematique of Unauthorized and Unaccountable Vice-Presidents

Introduction

I. Dual Vice-Presidency and its Representational Attributes

II. Policy- Free Presidential Teams

III. The Irrelevant Vice- Presidents

Conclusion

6 A Centralized State in a Decentralized Society: Identity Politics in a Strongly Centralized System

Introduction

I. The Problem of Outsider Governors

II. Local Councils (Provincial, District, and Village)

Conclusion

7 A Failed Project of Party Nationalization: The Problem with the Party Laws of Afghanistan

Introduction

I. Lack of Interest in Party Development

II. Command and Control Rules

III. Laws of Not the Emerging Coalitions

Conclusion

Conclusion

Appendix

Erscheinungsdatum	03.01.2024
Reihe/Serie	Comparative Constitutional Change
Zusatzinfo	25 Tables, black and white; 6 Line drawings, black and white; 2 Halftones, black and white; 8 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	490 g
Themenwelt	Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
	Recht / Steuern ► Öffentliches Recht
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10	0-367-71541-4 / 0367715414
ISBN-13	978-0-367-71541-0 / 9780367715410
Zustand	Neuware