Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present

Gilles Dorronsoro

Columbia University Press, Mar 2, 2005 - History - 385 pages

Having traveled and researched in Afghanistan since 1988, Gilles Dorronsoro has developed a rich and nuanced understanding of the country's history and people. In Revolution Unending he draws on his extensive firsthand experience to consider the political, historical, economic, and ethnic factors that will influence Afghanistan's future. He argues that U.S. optimism about Afghanistan following Western intervention and recent elections fails to appreciate the divisions that continue to define the country.

While not underestimating the oft-cited "ethnic factor" in Afghan politics, especially Pashtun dominance, Dorronsoro argues that class and the competition for employment and education are key factors in explaining the country's recent past. The 1990s saw the triumph of religious authorities (the ulema) and the marginalization of the traditional elites. With coalition intervention in 2001 and the subsequent deposition of the ulema-dominated Taliban, the educated elites are back in power. However, as Dorronsoro argues, patching up the country by means of short-term ethnic alliances and a new division of the spoils will only perpetuate the schisms in society. The Afghan civil war, Dorronsoro suggests, is set to continue and perhaps worsen over time.

Contents

• The Sociogenesis of the Afghan State: 23
• The role of imperialism: 24
• Neopatrimonialism: 25
• The legitimacy of the state: 33
• Challenges to the state: 40
• From Mobilisation to Revolution: 61
• International funding: 63
• The polititisation of the educated class: 65
• The failure of the parliamentary regime: 76
• Authoritarian mobilisation and repression under Daud: 80
• the communists in power: 85
• Part II MOBILISATIONS: 93
• Jihad: 105
• Qowm and commanders: 108
• The social profile of the commanders: 111
• Models of organisation: 123
• Finance: 129
• The Jihadi Parties: 137
• A typology of the parties: 149
• The parties and the refugees: 169
• The Kabul Regime: 173
• The three strategic dimensions: 175
• Preparations for the retreat: 191
• From the Proximity talks to the Geneva accords: 198
• The postwithdrawal survival of the regime: 201
• The Guerrillas: 207
• The evolution of the political map: 212
• Interparty cooperation: 223
• The mujahidin after the withdrawal: 227
• Competition and the Impetus towards Monopoly 19922001: 235
• The collapse of the state: 237
• The regionalisation of the forces 19921995: 240
• Towards monopolisation: 250
• The Ethnicisation of the Conflict: 257
• Ethnicisation as a strategy: 258
• Ethnicisation as an unintended consequence: 265
• The challenge to the ethnic hierarchy: 268
• The Clerical State: 272
• The party functionaries: 273
• State structures: 278
• the puritan order and social resistance: 284
• The radicalisation of the Taliban: 301
• A Splendid Little War?: 315
• The strategy of the United States: 317
• The failure of the Pakistani solution: 322
• The fall of the Taliban: 325
• The Return to Political Fragmentation: 329
• The reconstruction of the state: 331
• The new guerrilla movement: 338
• Ethnicity social groups and ideologies: 342
• The Policy of Pakistan: 346
• Trial of strength with the proTaliban movements: 347
• Commercial and human movements: 352
• Conclusion: 354
• Select Bibliography: 357
• Index: 363

Popular passages

Page iii - The CERI series in Comparative Politics and International Studies Series editor CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT This series consists of translations of noteworthy publications in the social sciences emanating from the foremost French research centre in international studies, the Paris-based Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI), part of Sciences Po and associated with the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). The focus of the series is the transformation of politics and society...

Page iii - ... and this phenomenon is accelerating processes of social and political change the world over. In seeking to understand and interpret these transformations, this series give priority to social trends from below as much as the interventions of state and non-state actors. Founded in 1952, CERI has forty full-time fellows drawn from different disciplines conducting research on comparative political analysis, international relations, regionalism, transnational flows, political sociology, political...

Page iii - ... studies, the Paris-based Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI), part of Sciences Po and associated with the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) The focus of the series is the transformation of politics and society by transnational and domestic factors — globalisation, migration, and the post-bipolar balance of power on the one hand, and ethnicity and religion on the other. States are more permeable to external influence than ever before and this phenomenon...

Page 11 - L'organisation paysanne pour la distribution de l'eau pour l'irrigation dans les villages de la steppe, l'institution du mirab», Afghanistan Journal, 1977 ; voir aussi R.

About the author

Gilles Dorronsoro is professor of political science, Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He has written extensively on Afghan and Central Asian politics and is a member of the editorial committees of Cultures and Conflicts and Central Asian Literature.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present; The CERI Series in Comparative Politics and International Studies
• Author: Gilles Dorronsoro
• Translated by: John King
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2005
• ISBN: 0231510241, 9780231510240
• Length: 385 pages
• Subjects: History / Asia / General; History / General; History / Middle East / General; History / Military / General