This study is focused on the comparison of the economic development of the two Asian countries, Iraq and Afghanistan from the end of the 2nd World War to the present. During this period both of these countries faced many political turbulence in the form of changing authoritarian regimes, numerous national or transnational conflicts as a direct threat of terrorist organizations. The presence of foreign actors in both countries, especially in the early 21st century when the US declared war on terrorism after the air attacks of 11 September 2001, brought to the destruction of important economic infrastructure on one side and humanitarian aid to long distressed civilian population on the other. The current economic situation is therefore strongly influenced by both international political developments as well as national apparatus which often lacks transparency, legitimacy and effectiveness. Despite considerable analogy in development of Iraq and Afghanistan the study shows that Iraq due to the oil industry was able to use its economic potential while Afghanistan is regularly placed on the lowest rungs of the economic development.

No description available.

Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Afghanistan from 2009 until 2013 within a majority Pashtun ethnic community in the city Jalalabad and outlying rural districts of Nangarhar province, this dissertation examines concepts of masculinity in a socio-cultural environment that is patrilineal, patrilocal and strongly androcentric, with a firm tradition of female segregation (parda). Because only individuals of opposite sex who are closely related by blood or marriage can have social relations, the research focused entirely on men. Given this context, cultural idioms about masculinity acquire extraordinary social and psychological importance. To be considered respectable and honorable, Pashtun men are expected to live up to the demanding standards of a cultural environment that requires displays of fearlessness, courage, aggressiveness and self-assertiveness. This includes a willingness to engage in violence when that is deemed necessary. The dissertation focuses on the psychological dynamics and subjectivity produced by these strict and demanding cultural norms in a sample set of individual Pashtun males as they matured into adulthood. The findings presented here were derived from multiple psychodynamic and one-on-one interviews with four select informants, which are supplemented with an analysis of more extensive data gleaned from participant observation in the Pashtun community. This methodological approach was designed to elicit material pertaining to these men’s deep emotional states, inner thought processes, conscious and unconscious attitudes and self-concepts that were related to their interpretations and enactments of the cultural mandated norms of masculinity, as well as their resistance to them. Notable findings include striking evidence for well-established patterns of inner psychological conflict, contradiction and suffering that the men I interviewed underwent as they coped with internalizing the uncompromising standards of behavior and attitude that constituted "being a real Pashtun man." These standards are not static, and the analysis of the data reveals a striking shift toward the legitimization of unprecedentedly violent behaviors that stem from thirty-five years of nearly constant conflict in Afghanistan. / 2017-11-04T00:00:00Z

This diploma thesis deals with the temporal and spatial distribution of Taliban terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. It covers the period since the start of the Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001, when the troops of the United States and their allies invaded the country, until the end of 2018. This thesis aims to find out what targets Taliban attacked during the reported period, and whether there is a link between the frequency of terrorist attacks and the real events that took place at the time of the attacks. The secondary aim of this work is to place the results obtained by the analysis into a broader geographical context. Using geographic information system, this thesis evaluates spatial differences in the localization of Taliban terrorist attacks. Data of the Taliban attacks were obtained from the Global Terrorism Database, and the maps were created in ArcGIS software. Within the temporal analysis window, the frequency of attacks is related to the timeline of predetermined important events, such as elections, religious and national holidays and decisions of foreign parties about their activities in the region. It was found that the increased frequency of Taliban attacks was related to the Afghan elections or the decisions of foreign parties about their operations in the region. The...

<p>Of every 10 workers in the world six work in the informal economy, while four out of every five organizations operate in the informal economy. An important sector in the informal economy is street food vending. Street food vendors not only earn their own living but provide a service to the market by making affordable food available quickly to the participants of the street market. While their role in the developing economies cannot be overlooked, not a lot has been known about them. This thesis explores street food vending in Afghanistan and Nigeria. Nigeria is used as an example for the rest of West Africa. In this thesis we will find out what crops are predominantly used by street food vendors, what are the impacts of price volatility on the profitability of street food vendors, are the vendors profitable, and how they make decisions under risk. We will be using tornado graphs, as well histograms, and cumulative density function to determine profitability and risk for street food vendors. We will also be using decision making trees to visualize how decisions are made by street food vendors.</p><p> </p>

This thesis is a poststructural policy analysis, following the ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ (WPR) approach developed by Carol Bacchi (2016), of the Afghanistan Study Group final report: A Pathway for Peace in Afghanistan. Following the theoretical basis proposed by this method, the report is examined for discourses and power relations that construct the problem representation. The discourses identified of liberalism and ‘just war’ theory are shown to saturate the Afghanistan Study Group’s (ASG) report and can be traced through time, displayed by a genealogy of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (SCFR) hearings that took place between September, 11th, 2001 up until the ASG report was commissioned in 2019. It is argued that the peace recommendations and the analysis they are based upon are produced by the politicians and experts under a Western lens that perpetuates an Orientalist problem representation. The proposed lens, inspired by postcolonial theory, is argued to not only permeate the ASG report but also the mainstream peacebuilding discourse, among other fields which pertain to, and ultimately get in the way of, finding a pathway to peace.

The French Foreign Legion has many traits and characteristics that may be labelled as strange, anachronistic or controversial. It is, however, a fully functional and well performing military unit. What are the inner mechanisms that allowed it to remain in existence until the present day? If we leave out external influences and consider the Foreign Legion as a typical total institution, we can try to find and classify these factors. The first group of mechanisms is connected to admission and accession of the candidates to the Legion and includes a formal change of the applicants' identity, weakening of their links with their own personal history and an indoctrination aimed at creating a strong bond with the Foreign Legion. In the second category we find characteristics and processes that further deepen this acquired loyalty, such as rituals, customs, songs etc. However, these mechanisms aren't always working properly. The French military campaign in Indochina after the end of the Second World War is an example of a situation where some of these functional prerequisites were limited or missing completely. The image of the Foreign Legion during the Indochina War was affected by the so-called myth of German veterans, according to which a major part of the Legion composed of legionaries of German...

Magister Artium - MA / This mini-thesis engages with the period of the Cold War between 1979 and 1989 to examine the shifts and contradictions that emerged around the figure of the “terrorist” and the “freedom fighter with a focus on the Afghan Mujahedeen. From 1979 to 1989, the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan. This period was witness to the formation of the Mujahedeen who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and also against the political ideologies of communism. In so doing, the Mujahedeen became political allies for the South African apartheid government as well as others fighting against the communist agenda

Objective Over the latest decades, NGOs have grown exponentially both in size and influence; they have come to play a significant role in development and support for civil society and the democratization process in developing countries. With an increased influence and budgets, NGOs have also come to be increasingly associated with corruption – as victims of corruption, as driving forces of corruption, and finally as anti-corruption activists and strategists. However, corruption is a complex and ill-defined concept where definitions and perceptions vary greatly between scholars and practitioners. The aim of the thesis is to describe and compare how western NGOs as well as the Swedish governmental donor agency Sida, operating in Afghanistan, a war-ridden, developing country with a high level of corruption define and approach corruption[1]. Theories The study is based on theories of institutionalism and anthropology to analyze how the chosen organizations define corruption. These theories are most appropriate for this thesis since the focus of the study is on organizations and the individuals working within them. Institutional theories study how institutions affect individuals behavior and how an individual's behavior affects the evolution of institutions. On the other hand, anthropology theories study how people who share a common cultural system organize and shape the physical and social world around them and how they, in turn, are shaped by those ideas, behaviors, and the environment. Analysis and methodology The analysis is based on an institutionalist approach, and organizational theories focus on power-dependency, considering that in terms of social science, the institutionalist approach emphasizes the role of institutions, which is the focus of this thesis. Therefore, this approach was an appropriate choice when conducting this research. The method used in the thesis is a comparative methodology. Each organization's anti-corruption policy, as well as interviews with representatives of two Swedish NGOs and Sida, was compared and analyzed. Results and discussion Similarities are found in organizations' formal definition of corruption, as all organizations share a similar anti-corruption policy, where corruption and corrupt activities are defined from a Western model. However, the differences are found in the experience of corruption, as NGOs, unlike Sida are active in the field, they are more exposed to the complex and challenging environment in which they feel that their formal guidelines and policies are not adapted to. They primarily experience that the level of tolerance of corruption varies in the context in which they are active.  The donor agency, Sida, is believed by the Swedish NGOs to be focusing more on working within the regulations and formal policies of anti-corruption, conducted by their origin country being Sweden, rather than on the complex nature of the context the operate in in this case being Afghanistan. Consequently, this issue is also followed by NGOs feeling pressure to implement projects within the framework of the donor agency's regulation, to avoid risking any loss of donor funds.  On the other hand, Sida states the opposite, emphasizing a more cooperative relationship with their partner NGOs.

Since 2002, foreign aid has been invested to create social change in Afghanistan, but little is known about the impact on women in rural areas. This case study focused on a single Afghan woman in a rural province who received a foreign aid grant for building baking skills and broader economic development of 20 rural women. The theoretical framework was based on Haq and Sen's development theory. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the key participant, her husband who was identified as the main source of support, and four female beneficiaries. These data were inductively coded and then subjected to thematic analysis. The primary findings of this study was that this foreign aid project succeeded in building skills for involved individuals; though wider spread of foreign aid benefits were limited by what is perceived as an inequitable distribution of assistance to rural areas, as well as Afghanistan's political, cultural, economic, and security environment. Findings from all participants in this case study (n=6) supported Haq and Sen's theoretical prediction that given the proper technical resources, an individual is capable of being self-reliant and avoiding poverty. The respondents concluded that short term change is attainable and beneficial, but will not be sustained without long-term cultural change regarding the roles of women and allocation of foreign aid. The social implications of this research may provide opportunities for Afghan community and women councils to conduct training for women with an objective to bring awareness of the importance of their participation in the economy. The findings will be compiled into a concept paper to be submitted to relevant ministries amid formulation of national capacity building policy for women in the rural area