Constitutional Law and the Politics of Ethnic Accommodation

Institutional Design in Afghanistan

Bashir Mobasher

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781003806141
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Diritto
• Categoria: Teoria e pratica del diritto

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.

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Endorsement
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Ethnicity, Constitution, and Accommodation in Afghanistan
• 1 A Failed Nation or a Failed Constitution?: An Insight from the Inside of Afghanistan
• 2 The Politics of Ethnic Accommodation under the Runoff System: A System of Coalition Making and Breaking
• 3 A Dysfunctional Parliament under the Yoke of the SNTV System: A System of Unrepresentative Representatives
• 4 Constitutional Unchecks and Imbalances: Examining Ethnic Accommodation under a Strong Presidential System
• 5 A System of Dual Vice-Presidency: The Problematique of Unauthorized and Unaccountable Vice-Presidents
• 6 A Centralized State in a Decentralized Society: Identity Politics in a Strongly Centralized System
• 7 A Failed Project of Party Nationalization: The Problem with the Party Laws of Afghanistan
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Index