Iavor Rangelov

Abuse of power and conflict persistence in Afghanistan

The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan presents a paradox. While international efforts to stabilise the country have been steadily increasing since 2001, the same period has been marked by a return to violence and constant escalation of the conflict. The Talibans growing strength is often attributed to the weakness of the Afghan state in extending authority and delivering public goods. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which power and authority are exercised and experienced in Afghanistan. In the current system of governance, abuse of power has become endemic and has emerged as a major driver of persistent conflict. This paper examines some of the key actors and forms of abuse and identifies a set of mechanisms by which abuse of power stimulates conflict persistence.

A Bottom-Up Approach to Redressing Past Violations of Human Rights

This contribution examines how civil society actors pursue justice in various ways different from, or in addition to, those of the formal justice system and in so doing seek to enhance human security. Human security has been the subject of multiple conceptual analyses since the publication of the 1994 Human Development Report (United Nations Development Programme, 1994). Different approaches have emphasized particular dimensions: direct physical violence (Canada), political violence (Human Security Report) and freedom from want (UNDP; Japan). The work of the Human Security Study Group convened at the behest of Javier Solana by Mary Kaldor articulated an operational framework that called attention in particular to the need for a ‘bottom-up’ approach (Barcelona Report, 2003; Madrid Report, 2007).1