Ali Wardak

The Search for Legitimate Rule, Justice and a Durable Peace: Hybrid Models of Governance in Afghanistan

With increased violence in 2011 compared to the previous decade (2001–2010), coupled with growing anxiety and uncertainty among Afghans about the future direction of their country, the long search continues for a transitional approach to Afghan governance over several decades that leads to a more durable, transparent and just governance system. At its core, the new approach will need to derive legitimacy from effectiveness in the delivery of basic public goods, inclusiveness in engaging a wide range of societal groups and sensitivity to traditional power wielders. Within a distinctly Afghan context, it should also be guided by achieving justice through a combination of formal and long-standing informal measures. And more than simply managing violent conflict, the new approach to governance in Afghanistan should aim to usher in an era of durable peace by addressing the sources of violent conflict. Despite notable setbacks and expected challenges, Afghanistan has witnessed marked progress since the arrival of foreign forces and significantly increased aid flows in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on theUnitedStates.Understoodby few external observers, Afghanistan can attribute someof its progress in recent years to a nationally driven and internationally supported effort to encourage what are often termed in the literature on fragile and conflict-affected states as ‘hybridmodels of governance’. By encouraging representation and the participation of a range of old and new – as well as formally elected and informally revered – authority figures simultaneously, Afghans have initiated a long-term process of building capable, legitimate, and modern institutions of selfgovernance. However, a serious qualification is that Afghan state authorities have at times been selective in embracing hybridity – that is, they seem to favour hybrid structures only when they are perceived as serving the interests of those inpower.With an eye towards how innovative hybrid models of governance hold some of the answers to ending Afghanistan’s decadeslongdeadly conflict, this briefinghighlights several key, informative achievements and failures in the country’s search for legitimate rule, justice and a durable peace.

Black and Asian probationers: Implications of the Home Office study

This article presents the main findings of a survey of Black, Asian and mixed heritage men supervised by the probation service in 2001-2003. It discusses the long-standing concern that minority ethnic groups may be subject to discriminatory treatment in the criminal justice system, and examines the probation service’s response to this concern. In the presentation and discussion of the findings, comparisons are made where possible with predominantly white probation samples. These suggest that minority ethnic offenders in the sample had received the same community sentences as white offenders with higher levels of criminogenic need. The possible meanings of this finding are explored, along with the implications of respondents’ views of what constitutes helpful probation practice.