Derailing Democracy in Afghanistan: Elections in an Unstable Political Landscape
A fascinating look into how Afghan politics trump Western political theory,Derailing Democracyis readable yet filled with insight. The book is a serious critique of international democracy practice and funding that needs attention well beyond those interested in Afghanistan. It highlights the consequences of letting donor expediency sideline cultural understanding, including the multifaceted role of violence.(Ronald Neumann, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, 2005--2007)More snake oil than panacea, the promise of elections in Afghanistan has failed to create a representative government -- and worse -- has displaced other tested traditions of consensus building that Afghans have long relied upon.Derailing Democracyexplains why this is the case, but the lessons it draws have much wider applicability well beyond Afghanistan.(Thomas Barfield, author ofAfghanistan: A Political and Cultural History)Noah Coburn and Anna Larson refuse to describe the democratization process in Afghanistan in the simplistic terms of the success or failure of elections, but instead describe how the introduction of elections by the international community altered and reshaped Afghan power dynamics, paradoxically creating a less democratic politics and a more corrupt elite.(Scott Seward Smith, director of Afghanistan and Central Asia Programs, United States Institute of World Peace, and author ofAfghanistan's Troubled Transition: Politics, Peacekeeping, and the 2004 Presidential Election)