Abstract
Since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Afghanistan has belonged to the league of democracies in Asia. Prior to this regime change, the country had experienced 30 years of civil war, and only a decadelong, relatively democratic period during the 1960s. Such political history makes it difficult to write this chapter; because of the paucity of existing research on democratic institutions, the period that can be studied is very limited, and data are hard to obtain. With these caveats in mind, this chapter analyses Afghanistan’s executive-legislative relations with a focus on the period of the first parliamentary term, from 2005 to 2010. Although the number of studies on Afghan politics has grown rapidly during recent years,1 there remains a paucity of research on executive-legislative relationships that takes theoretical and comparative perspectives. This chapter is one of the first attempts to study Afghan politics from such perspectives.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Periodicals
Afghanistan Parliamentary Assistance Project (APAP) Legislative Newsletter, various issues.
Government documents
Constitution of Afghanistan, 1923, 1964, 1977, 1987 and 2004.
Articles and books
Adeney, K. (2008) ‘Constitutional Design and the Political Salience of Community Identity in Afghanistan: Prospects for the Emergence of Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Taliban Era’, Asian Survey, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 535–557.
Arjomand, S. A. (2004/2005) ‘Constitutional Developments in Afghanistan: A Comparative and Historical Perspective’, Drake Law Review, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 943–962.
Baumgartner, J. C. and N. Kada (eds) (2003) Checking Executive Power: Presidential Impeachment in Comparative Perspective (Westport: Praeger).
Cain, B. E., J. A. Ferejohn and M. P. Fiorina (1987) The Personal Vote: Constituency Service and Electoral Independence (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press).
Carey, J. and M. S. Shugart (1995) ‘Incentives to Cultivate Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas’, Electoral Studies, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 417–439.
Chishti, N. M. (1998) Constitutional Development in Afghanistan (Karachi: Royal Book Company).
Coburn, N. and A. Larson (2011) ‘Undermining Representative Governance: Afghanistan’s 2010 Parliamentary Election and Its Alienating Impact’, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit publication, February 2011 (Kabul: AREU).
Cox, G. W. (1997) Making Votes Count: Strategic Coordination in the World’s Electoral Systems (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Grofman, B, S. C. Lee, E. A. Winkler and B. Woodall (eds) (1999) Elections in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan under the Single Non-transferable Vote: The Comparative Study of an Embedded Institution (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press).
Grote, R. (2004) ‘Separation of Powers in the New Afghan Constitution’, Heidelberg Journal of International Law, vol. 64, pp. 897–915.
Hayek, F. (1944) The Road to Serfdom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
International Crisis Group (2003a) ‘Afghanistan’s Flawed Constitutional Process’, International Crisis Group Asia Report No. 56 (this and following ICG publications are available online at: www.crisisgroup.org).
International Crisis Group (2003b) ‘Afghanistan: the Constitutional Loya Jirga’, International Crisis Group Afghanistan Briefing.
International Crisis Group (2004) ‘Afghanistan: From Presidential to Parliamentary Elections’, International Crisis Group Asia Report No. 88.
International Crisis Group (2005a) ‘Afghanistan Elections: Endgame or New Beginning?’, International Crisis Group Asia Report No. 101.
International Crisis Group (2005b) ‘Political Parties in Afghanistan’, International Crisis Group Asia Briefing No. 39.
International Crisis Group (2010) ‘Reforming Afghanistan’s Broken Judiciary’, International Crisis Group Asia Report No. 195.
International Crisis Group (2011) ‘Afghanistan’s Election Stalemate’, International Crisis Group Asia Briefing No. 117.
Kasuya, Y. 2008, Presidential Bandwagon: Parties and Party Systems in the Philippines (Tokyo: Keio University Press).
Larson, A. (2010) ‘The Wolesi Jirga in Flux, 2010: Elections and Instability’, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit publication, September (Kabul: AREU).
Lijphart, A. (1977) Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration (New Haven: Yale University Press).
Lijphart, A. (1999) Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-six Countries (New Haven: Yale University Press).
Linz, J and A. Valenzuela (eds) (1994) The Failure of Presidential Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).
Magnus, R. H. (1974) ‘The Afghan Constitution of 1964: A Decade of Political Experimentation’, in L. Dupree and L. Albert (eds), Afghanistan in the 1970s (New York: Praeger), pp. 50–75.
Mullen, R. D. (2010) ‘Afghanistan in 2009: Trying to Pull Back from the Brink’, Asian Survey, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 127–138.
Reynolds, A. (2006) ‘The Curious Case of Afghanistan’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 104–117.
Reynolds, A. and A. Wilder (2004) ‘Free, Fair or Flawed: Challenges for Legitimate Elections in Afghanistan’, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Briefing Paper, September (Kabul: AREU).
Roeder, P. G. and D. S. Rothchild (2005) Sustainable Peace: Power and Democracy after Civil Wars (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).
Rubin, B. R. (2004) ‘Crafting a Constitution for Afghanistan’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 5–19.
Ruttig, T. (2006) ‘Islamists, Leftists, and a Void in the Center: Afghanistan’s Political Parties and Where They Come From’, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Afghanistan Office, available at: http://www.kas.de/afghanistan/en/publications/9674
Shugart, M. S. and J. M. Carey (1992) Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Shugart, M. S. and M. P. Wattenberg (eds) (2001) Mixed-member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds? (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Thier, A. J. (2006/2007) ‘The Making of a Constitution in Afghanistan’, New York Law School Law Review, vol. 51, Winter, pp. 557–579.
Thier, A. J. (2010) ‘Big Tent, Small Tent: The Making of a Constitution in Afghanistan’, in L. E. Miller (ed.), Framing the State in Times of Transition: Case Studies in Constitution Making (Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press).
United Nations Development Fund for Women (n.d.), ‘Legislative Process’, UNIFEM Afghanistan.
Wafaey, H. M. and A. Larson (2010) ‘The Wolesi Jirga in 2010 Pre-election Politics and the Appearance of Opposition’, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit publication, June (Kabul: AREU).
Wilder, A. (2005) ‘A House Divided?: Analyzing the 2005 Afghan Elections’, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit publication, December (Kabul: AREU).
Witte, G. (2010) ‘Once-docile Afghan Parliament Stands Up to Karzai and Becomes an Ally of US’, Washington Post Foreign Service, 23 April, at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/AR2010042203943.html (accessed 1 June 2011).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Yuko Kasuya with John Kendall
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kasuya, Y., Kendall, J. (2013). Afghanistan’s Strong President and Weak Parties. In: Kasuya, Y. (eds) Presidents, Assemblies and Policy-making in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137315083_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137315083_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44704-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31508-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)