Elections and the failure of democratisation

How voting has made Afghanistan less democratic from the ground up

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5680970
AutoresNoah Coburn (Anthropology, Bennington College, Bennington, VT, USA, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume16
Fascículo6
Páginas541-555
Data de publicação2016-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoConflict Security and Development (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1467-8802 • E-ISSN: 1478-1174
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14678802.2016.1246139
OpenAlexW2559985761
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas17

This article provides an ethnographic analysis of shifts in the political economy of one key district in Afghanistan, in order to analyse the links between elections and shifting constellations of power at the local level. Drawing on field research before and after the elections of 2009, 2010 and 2014, it suggests that elections have enabled a small group of the ruling elite to further solidify its grasp on local political and economic resources. The resources and opportunities generated by elections have been used by political elites in order to strengthen patronage networks and consolidate local hierarchies. This outcome, essentially the obverse of the proclaimed objectives of promoting democracy through electoral processes, raises questions about the assumed relationship between elections and democratisation

Democracy · Democratization · Economic system · Economics · Elite · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Turnout · Voting · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Public Administration