IPA Occasional Paper

1 total work

Political Order in Post-communist Afghanistan

by William Maley, Fazel Haq Saikel, and Fazel Haq Saikal

Published 1 January 1992

This monograph provides a detailed account of the collapse of the communist regime in Afghanistan and considers steps that can be taken to consolidate post-communist rule. After outlining the historical evolution of the Afghanistan problem, the authors trace the process by which the communist regime progressively unravelled and show why UN efforts to negotiate an internal settlement between the communists and the resistance proved fruitless. They then examine the issues that will need to be addressed if fair elections - endorsed by a wide range of Afghan political groups - are to be held. A discussion of future constitutional arrangements highlights the potential advantages of federalism, consociationalism and parliamentarism. The authors conclude with a plea for generous reconstruction aid, without which, they assert, Afghan politics will prove too competitive for democratic institutions to survive.