Towards State Legitimacy in Afghanistan

Abstract

After almost io years of substantial international efforts at nation-building in Afghanistan, the prospects of achieving a functioning, democratically governed state are facing ever greater dangers. Grave doubts have arisen from the mismanaged and fraudulent presidential elections of 2009, the persistence of warlords in positions of official authority, and signs that Afghans' fundamental rights may be subject to compromise for the sake of political expethency. Equally disconcerting is the yet- to-be quelled insurgency that, with the ethnic dimensions it possesses, stands to fracture the embryonic sense of national unity glimpsed over the last decade. Combined shortcomings in nationwide infrastructure reconstruction, the spotty provision of basic social services, and the ubiquitous menace of corruption exacerbate Afghans' weakening confidence in their government and its foreign backers.Given these setbacks, countries contributing blood and treasure to Afghanistan's reconstruction are gradually lowering their expectations for a democratic Afghanistan; nonetheless, their stated goals remain largely unchanged. Citing the 2001 Bonn agreement, these contributors have yet to reverse their acknowledgement ofthe right ofthe people of Afghanistan to freely determine their own political future in accordance with the principles of Islam, democracy, pluralism and social justice.1 Recent statements made by the US and UK governments appear to indicate that their commitment remains to assist the Afghan government in the fulfilment and protection of this right and its accompanying principles.2This promise is welcomed and desired by the Afghan people. A large majority of Afghans have made clear their desire for a universally elected, representative, and accountable government faithful to the rule of law. They have made this apparent with continued engagement in political processes such as elections, through several public opinion polls, and in civil society's growing advocacy for the rule of law and social services. Never before in Afghanistan's history have so many of its people come to recognize their rights and obligations as citizens, as well as those ofthe state.While this aspiration remains fundamentally shared, the depth and breadth of its realization is encumbered. Indeed, the widespread fraud that so deeply marred the 2009 elections revealed numerous weaknesses in the independent electoral commission and its monitoring processes. If these and other detriments of responsible and accountable governance are left unresolved, their persistence will effectively undermine a core basis of the government's legitimacy, and thus jeopardize the potential for a stable and prosperous Afghanistan.A mounting number of Afghanistan watchers cite the state's legitimacy - as perceived by its people - as fundamental to the maintenance of military gains against an increasingly bold and coordinated insurgency. They are correct. This article considers political legitimacy in Afghanistan, the ways in which increasingly localized democratic governance stands to enhance the government's legitimacy, and civil society's vital contribution to this process.POLITICAL LEGITIMACY IN AFGHANISTAN- PAST AND PRESENTThe sources of political legitimacy in Afghanistan have undergone significant shifts from the years leading up to 1978 Sawr revolution to the present. Contrary to the pessimistic romanticism or convenience often employed by those content to leave Afghan society in a 19th-century time capsule, Afghans' cumbersome yet progressive recognition of legal legitimacy corresponds with its people's ever-greater appreciation of the rule of law.Max Weber's classic definition of the legitimate state applies here, i.e., its successful monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a given territory.3 The basis of such legitimate rule can be traditional, charismatic, or legal.4 The strength of legal legitimacy rests in the belief in the validity of the legal statute and functional competence based on rationally created rules. …