Bulletin n. 1/2005
December 2005
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
  • Schneider Cornelia
    Striking a Balance in Post-Conflict Constitution-Making: Lessons from Afghanistan for the International Community
    in Peace, Conflict and Development , Volume 7, Issue 7, July ,  2005 ,  pp. 174-216
    Afghanistan is one of the more recent examples of the international community engaging in state building. One major reconstruction effort envisaged from the start was the drafting and passing of a new constitution as groundwork for increased democracy, rule of law, and good governance at a later stage. In this paper, I argue that the constitution-making process in Afghanistan, as carried out by the Afghan autorities assisted by the international community, was flawed. The main shortcoming of international actors was not only their failure to prevent the spread of 'warlordism', but their active encouragement of the rise of regional power structures through their actions. The ensuing security situation, brought about by a lack of enforcement and policing powers on the part of the Afghan autorities in combination with the negative influence of regional warlords, had direct impact on the way in which constitution-making was carried out. More importantly, it had a noticeable negative effect on how the process was perceived by the Afghan population. The main lesson to be taken away from Afghanistan is that process matters as much as substance. Failure to recognise this may jeopardise the legitimacy of state building efforts wuth long-lasting consequences that go far beyond the immediate written document arising from the constitution-making process. Full text available at http://www.peacestudiesjournal.org.uk/docs/July05Schneider.pdf
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