This thesis examines how Afghan women from the professional social class have negotiated the patriarchy in that country and claimed their agency and public life during different political regimes. Resisting the Western representation of Afghan women as passive victims, it uses the life story method, based on interviews with a wide range of women in public life during the period of US-sponsored democracy and intervention, to analyse the complex factors involved in enabling women to access public life. From a historical sociological viewpoint it examines the shifts in the forms of patriarchy and their sustaining gender regimes from 19th century to the present, and draws on Walby’s six structures of patriarchy in order to understand how those shift affected the ability of women to access public life and employment. Those structures – culture, religion, education, employment, family – are explored through the experiences and life histories of my interviewees. The thesis also pays attention to the involvement of external, foreign actors in the affairs of Afghanistan and the impact of those interventions on the possibility for women’s agency and participation in professional and public life through different political regimes. It thus challenges a simplistic view 9/11 was a water-shed moment for women’s empowerment, and notes that the economic is-sues, an aid-dependent economy and political regimes, security and safety, poverty and psychological trauma, corruption and power struggles among different forces (local and foreign) in many ways undermined women’s prospects in public life. The finding of the research shows that the rights and position of women in Afghanistan have fluctuated over the last 100 years depending on the patriarchal cultural, political and religious ideology and practice of the political regimes, and in no small part due to the influence and interference of external actors in the country.

Under kontrollen av talibanernas totalitära regim har Afghanistan upplevt betydande inskränkningar i kvinnors rättigheter. Dessa inskränkningar inkluderar begränsningar i politiskt deltagande, rätt till utbildning och arbete, samt synlighet i det offentliga rummet. Under de 20 år då USA och världssamfundet var närvarande i landet, gjordes framsteg inom jämställdhet och kvinnors rättigheter. Men sedan USA:s tillbakadragande 2021 har situationen försämrats avsevärt. Formella institutioner har genomgått förändringar som begränsar kvinnors rättigheter, och afghanska kvinnor har drabbats hårt av talibanregimens systematiska inskränkningar. Generellt sett är Afghanistan ett patriarkalt samhälle när det gäller jämställdhet. Denna fallstudie bygger på kvalitativ innehållsanalys och undersöker kvinnors rättigheter som har påverkats av regimskifte, samt det kulturella och patriarkala pushtunwali-synsättet, vilket har haft inverkan på både informella och formella institutioner i frågor som rör jämställdhet och kvinnors rättigheter. / Under the control of the totalitarian Taliban regime, Afghanistan has faced significant restrictions on women's rights, including political participation, the right to education, work opportunities and visibility in public space. During the 20 years that the United States and the international community were present in the country, progress was made in gender equality and women's rights, but since the withdrawal of the United States in 2021, the situation has deteriorated significantly. Formal institutions have undergone changes that have limited women's rights, and Afghan women have been hit hard by the Taliban regime's systematic restrictions. Afghanistan is generally a patriarchal society when it comes to gender equality. This is a case study based on qualitative content analysis and examines women's rights that have been affected by regime change, as well as the cultural and patriarchal pushtunwali approach that has had an impact on informal and formal institutions when it comes to gender equality and women's rights.

There is a grave concern for the life, liberty and security of individuals who have been forced to leave their homes and have become dispersed within their native countries and throughout the Asian continent. These internally displaced persons and refugees are the subject of this study. Some of the themes that will be discussed include: civil war, human rights violations and the economy, since these are the problems affecting the populations of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar. These case studies are of particular interest because Afghanistan is where most refugees come from, Myanmar has the longest-running military regime and Pakistan hosts the most refugees in the world. All three case studies are currently in a state of civil war, are breeding grounds for violations of human rights and have corrupt economies. Thus, the goal is to end armed conflict, to put an end to the human rights violations that come with it and to restructure the economies in each of these nation states so that the internally displaced persons and refugees can be repatriated, since displacement has become too much of a burden for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar's neighboring countries, who have been taking in all of the refugees from said countries. Theoretically, if the issues causing displacement were to be solved, then the countries that host refugees would be able to concentrate on their own populations. This study can potentially address the gap between knowledge, policy formation, and policy implementation to realize the goals of the international community in dealing with the displacement crisis.

No description available.

Canada took part in NATO's mission to restructure Afghanistan. The coalition removed the Taliban Government and made-way for a new Afghan Authority. Canada and its NATO allies identified the predominant issues it considered in the planning and implementation of its intervention. This thesis analyzes these assumptions and the influence they had on the construction of the intervention. It problematizes the concept of security, and builds a matrix of security concerns based on the social structures that compose the local and international actors in Afghanistan: namely NATO, Canada, and local Afghan perspectives. It seeks to outline the shared understanding and expectations of the Alliance, the resources which it has allocated, and the practices that have resulted from the intervention to this day. The analysis aims to identify which sectors are primarily made referents of security policies in the context of Canada's renewed role in international relations and the duality of humanitarian development and military intervention. The study will take into consideration the experience and interests of the observed actors and ask whether the reference of an international actor to the security concerns of a domestic actor is adequate. This research seeks to showcase the utility of the constructivist framework in understanding the plurality of identities. It identifies the fault lines between outsiders and insiders within the context, and the ways by which the construction of security changes from one social-structure to another. It considers the interaction issues related to the agent-structure question, by identifying issues of dominance by specific actors, the militarization of the context, and the ordering of security-values by different actors.

<p>According to the latest refugee statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR 2011), the number of people forcibly displaced worldwide has reached 43.7 million, the highest number in 15 years. Roughly 80% of this population are women and children. Afghanistan continues to be the place of origin for the largest number of refugees under UNHCR responsibility across the globe. From 1979 to 1990, the largest and most enduring forced migration in human history occurred when 6.2 million Afghans were displaced and fled their homeland to neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Iran.</p> <p>During the processes of conflict, upheaval, exile, and resettlement, refugee women face numerous traumatic events and are exposed to various challenges at every stage of their refugee journey. Very little scholarly research has examined their strengths and resiliency during this time.</p> <p>The primary purpose of this study is to provide insight into the challenges that Afghan refugee women have faced during pre-migration, exile, and resettlement. Specifically, this inquiry using feminist theory and method examines (a) their experiences in all three contexts in which they have lived and managed, (b) the significant roles that they have played, and (c) the coping mechanisms that they have used to overcome the problems in these situations.</p> <p>The sample for this interpretive qualitative research was drawn from Afghan refugee women in the city of Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. The study was conducted with six in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The results provide contextually laden detail of the Afghan refugee women’s unique lived experiences. The results revealed Afghan refugee women as resilient and as strong leaders. The dominant discourse that portrays Afghan women as weak and oppressed should be challenged. Implications for social work practice, education and policy are identified, and recommendations for improved services are outlined.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

By 2001, the al-Qaida movement had evolved into a transnational revolutionary movement with an eschatological dimension, facilitating the 9/11 attacks to gain religious support and incite a strong reaction. The Bush administration was particularly tough in its response, terminating the Taliban regime and then declaring the right of pre-emption against a wider axis of evil, which led on to regime termination in Iraq and the intended constraining of Iran. In the event, regime termination in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in protracted wars that were intensely costly in human and resource terms, and Iranian influence actually increased. The al-Qaida movement was dispersed while being transformed into a potent idea with little in the way of an organised structure, yet was effective in catalysing movements from South Asia through the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa. Analyses of events in Iraq and Afghanistan point to deep misconceptions over the potential for the use of military force and of imposed state building. After more than a decade after 9/11, there has been a re-orientation away from large-scale occupations towards more remote means of maintaining control, with an emphasis on armed drones, special forces and privatised military companies. This approach appears initially appropriate and attractive but may be as counterproductive as the previous approach.

yes / How economies of countries at war (war economies) transform in `peace¿ is a critical new area of research in political economy and war and peace studies. The dynamics that affect the way war economies perpetuate or mutate after a peace agreement is signed is the context for this examination of non-state actor roles ¿ normally attention is on state and international organisations ¿ in the problems of peacebuilding. Here the focus is on diaspora networks, what might be described as national or transnational civil society groupings whose role is autonomous but carried considerable potential to assist reconstruction of the war-torn homeland.

Yes / This paper is a preliminary consideration of the question of how Diaspora from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sierra Leone could contribute to peace building in their home states. Often Diasporas are regarded as obstacles to peace building, so it is not the assumption of this scoping paper that the relationship between Diasporas and peace building will always be positive. That being said, neither does the paper make the assumption that the Diaspora are homogenous groups that behave in consistent and coordinated ways. The aim is to consider what scope there is for tapping into more positive elements of Diaspora relations with their homelands as they emerge from conflict.

The purpose of this thesis was to analyze President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy and to determine if it fits the mold of one of the four historical foreign policy paradigms as described by Walter Russell Mead in his book, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World. Mead describes four U.S. foreign policy schools of thought, in which he titles after influential statesmen who embody the specific school's core principles. These paradigms include the Hamiltonians, who believe in a strong relationship between big business and government for foreign policy success. The Wilsonians, who encourage the spread of democratic principles abroad. The Jeffersonians, who favor the protection of domestic liberal democracy over other foreign policy endeavors. Lastly, the Jacksonians, who prioritize the physical and economic security of American citizens above all else. The primary research question in this thesis states, which of the four traditions of U.S. foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead helps explain President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy? President Trump's rhetoric and specific foreign policy actions were analyzed. His rhetoric was examined through his August 2017 Afghanistan Strategy speech and his specific foreign policy actions were measured through various air operation metrics, U.S. aid to Afghanistan, and U.S. troop deployment trends. Overall, this thesis gave support to my hypothesis that President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy contains various Hamiltonian and Wilsonian principles, but it has proven to be principally Jacksonian. / Master of Arts / The objective of this thesis was to further understand President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy through the theoretical framework of Walter Russel Mead's four historical foreign policy paradigms. Mead's four historical paradigms are useful tools to examine and understand U.S. foreign policy. Mead provides in-depth historical context, goes into great detail on core principles, and also provides a surfeit of advantages and disadvantages for each school of thought. His breakdown of U.S. foreign policy into complementary yet combative paradigms is one of the most complete explanations of U.S. foreign policy to date. The primary research question in this thesis states, which of the four traditions of U.S. foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead helps explain President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy? President Trump's rhetoric and specific foreign policy actions were analyzed. His rhetoric was examined through his August 2017 Afghanistan Strategy speech and his specific foreign policy actions were measured through various air operation metrics, U.S. aid to Afghanistan, and U.S. troop deployment trends. Overall, this thesis gave support to my hypothesis that President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy contains various Hamiltonian and Wilsonian principles, but it has proven to be principally Jacksonian.