Democratization in Afghanistan
“Democratization is a complex process based on elections by free and secret ballot, a high lever of human rights implementation, a high capacity of dialogue, an active citizenry in a vibrant civil society, and an ever higher capacity for solving conflicts without violence. Cultural factors are explored with falling into the trap of cultural relativism”. (Paul D. Scott)[1]
According to the good definition of democratization and the declaration of the Afghan Government, Afghanistan is at the beginning point of this process. The Afghan citizens have now experienced elections, and the Government has committed to following the human rights. It has been mentioned in the constitution law that, every citizen has the right to criticize the government and its system. However there are many essential obstacles and challenges for the implementation of these elements:
The Main Obstacles
Free and Fair Election,
Human Rights
Illiteracy
Security/Ongoing war
Unprepared Society
Free and Fair Election:
The Afghan people experienced and passed the presidential and parliamentary election process in 2005, almost every citizen (adult) attended the process and vote for the candidates. In addition, there were external evaluators to support the administration process. As a result Hamid Kazai[2] won the presidential election and has been selected as president of Afghanistan. People representatives have been also selected through the election process. Although, according to the aforementioned definition of democratization, these elections were not proper democratic process. The process was not based on free and secrete ballot. Many people had access to the ballot and they took advantage of it for their parties. Therefore the system was misused. Also, due to influence of parties and group leader coercion, many people did not vote for the person they really wanted to support. For example most of women are illiterate and they did not know how to vote or for whom to vote. So they voted for the one that their husband recommended, and their husband connected to the parties.
For the free and fair election, we need a modern and trustworthy process with secrete ballots. However the most important fact is the awareness of people about real elections. This awareness can be accomplished through media.
Human Rights:
The Government declared commitment to follow the human rights, especially equal rights of men and women.
“the citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law”(Afghan Constitution law, page.7)
However in the current situation, there is a large gap between the rights of men and women, and the reason for this disobedience is mostly lack of illiteracy and security. People in the regions area particularly women do not even know what human right is.
In order to implement the human rights, a compulsory education system for men and women, girls and boys is needed. The international community that supports the education system in Afghanistan, and the government, need to increase the education facilities countrywide for men and women and specially to encourage women’s education in the rural areas. They should facilitate some training for the illiterate people, and encourage them to let their children (girls and boys) go to school. When people become better educated, the human rights will be obeyed as well.
Security/Ongoing conflict:
Afghanistan is still suffering from an ongoing war between the government and the Taliban who has power in the southern part of Afghanistan. Moreover, suicide attacks by Taliban continuously kill civilians in the cities. However the government has announced an open door for negotiation, but Taliban’s conditions are illegitimate. Therefore conflict is increasing and more intense day by day. NATO Troops and American military forces are in Afghanistan as third parties to support the government and against the Taliban group. NATO and American military forces are fighting against the Taliban, but fighting is not the best and proper approach to solve the conflict. It is very necessary to mention that besides the fighting workforce many civilians are losing their life and their residence.
Therefore it seems that NATO and American forces are creating conflict instead of solving it.
“six people have been killed and at least 15 injured in a car bomb attack on a coalition convoy in Kabul”. (BBC news, 18 March 2008)
However, a third party is needed to create a better negotiation and mediation between the parties. In order to improve the situation the parties should need to dialogue. The responsibility of the third party is to create a mediation situation. They should use the majority of the budget for mediation instead of weapons. They should look for alternative ways for creating mediation. Through mediation they could bring Taliban and the government around a table to talk, instead of fighting and using weapons. This process would increase security for civilians and lead to a more effective democracy.
Unprepared Society:
The majority of people in Afghanistan are not ready yet for a real democratization, because they do not know the idea of “governing by people” and what democracy or human rights is. In other words people are unprepared for western-style and model of democracy. People have passed three decades with war and different rulers particularly Taliban regimes. Therefore at the present time democracy sounds abnormal to the common people. On other hand, the leaders who were involved in the internal war are still in power and have connection to illegal trade, such as narcotics. People cannot trust them. Therefore it is too soon for implementation of democracy in Afghanistan.
Overall, for the real democratization in Afghanistan, security is required to insure peoples’ life, along with a good education system, human rights, democratic elections, trustworthy civilian society, and the most important thing is time. It will take time to implement democracy in Afghanistan.
References:
Afghan constitution, (n.a.), Article 22, Retrieved 20 March 2008, from http://arabic.cnn.com/afghanistan/ConstitutionAfghanistan.pdf
BBC news,(n.a.), Afghanistan, Retrieved 20 March 2008, from
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=i&q=afghanistan
University of Denver, Rowe, Chris, Democratization in Afghanistan, Retrieved 20 March 2008 from http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/digest/reconstruction/afgdem.pdf
[1] Dr. Paul Scott has been the professor for democratization class in European Peace University (EPU), March 2008.
[2] Hamid Karzai is the current president of Afghanistan elected on 2005 by people.
“Democratization is a complex process based on elections by free and secret ballot, a high lever of human rights implementation, a high capacity of dialogue, an active citizenry in a vibrant civil society, and an ever higher capacity for solving conflicts without violence. Cultural factors are explored with falling into the trap of cultural relativism”. (Paul D. Scott)[1]
According to the good definition of democratization and the declaration of the Afghan Government, Afghanistan is at the beginning point of this process. The Afghan citizens have now experienced elections, and the Government has committed to following the human rights. It has been mentioned in the constitution law that, every citizen has the right to criticize the government and its system. However there are many essential obstacles and challenges for the implementation of these elements:
The Main Obstacles
Free and Fair Election,
Human Rights
Illiteracy
Security/Ongoing war
Unprepared Society
Free and Fair Election:
The Afghan people experienced and passed the presidential and parliamentary election process in 2005, almost every citizen (adult) attended the process and vote for the candidates. In addition, there were external evaluators to support the administration process. As a result Hamid Kazai[2] won the presidential election and has been selected as president of Afghanistan. People representatives have been also selected through the election process. Although, according to the aforementioned definition of democratization, these elections were not proper democratic process. The process was not based on free and secrete ballot. Many people had access to the ballot and they took advantage of it for their parties. Therefore the system was misused. Also, due to influence of parties and group leader coercion, many people did not vote for the person they really wanted to support. For example most of women are illiterate and they did not know how to vote or for whom to vote. So they voted for the one that their husband recommended, and their husband connected to the parties.
For the free and fair election, we need a modern and trustworthy process with secrete ballots. However the most important fact is the awareness of people about real elections. This awareness can be accomplished through media.
Human Rights:
The Government declared commitment to follow the human rights, especially equal rights of men and women.
“the citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law”(Afghan Constitution law, page.7)
However in the current situation, there is a large gap between the rights of men and women, and the reason for this disobedience is mostly lack of illiteracy and security. People in the regions area particularly women do not even know what human right is.
In order to implement the human rights, a compulsory education system for men and women, girls and boys is needed. The international community that supports the education system in Afghanistan, and the government, need to increase the education facilities countrywide for men and women and specially to encourage women’s education in the rural areas. They should facilitate some training for the illiterate people, and encourage them to let their children (girls and boys) go to school. When people become better educated, the human rights will be obeyed as well.
Security/Ongoing conflict:
Afghanistan is still suffering from an ongoing war between the government and the Taliban who has power in the southern part of Afghanistan. Moreover, suicide attacks by Taliban continuously kill civilians in the cities. However the government has announced an open door for negotiation, but Taliban’s conditions are illegitimate. Therefore conflict is increasing and more intense day by day. NATO Troops and American military forces are in Afghanistan as third parties to support the government and against the Taliban group. NATO and American military forces are fighting against the Taliban, but fighting is not the best and proper approach to solve the conflict. It is very necessary to mention that besides the fighting workforce many civilians are losing their life and their residence.
Therefore it seems that NATO and American forces are creating conflict instead of solving it.
“six people have been killed and at least 15 injured in a car bomb attack on a coalition convoy in Kabul”. (BBC news, 18 March 2008)
However, a third party is needed to create a better negotiation and mediation between the parties. In order to improve the situation the parties should need to dialogue. The responsibility of the third party is to create a mediation situation. They should use the majority of the budget for mediation instead of weapons. They should look for alternative ways for creating mediation. Through mediation they could bring Taliban and the government around a table to talk, instead of fighting and using weapons. This process would increase security for civilians and lead to a more effective democracy.
Unprepared Society:
The majority of people in Afghanistan are not ready yet for a real democratization, because they do not know the idea of “governing by people” and what democracy or human rights is. In other words people are unprepared for western-style and model of democracy. People have passed three decades with war and different rulers particularly Taliban regimes. Therefore at the present time democracy sounds abnormal to the common people. On other hand, the leaders who were involved in the internal war are still in power and have connection to illegal trade, such as narcotics. People cannot trust them. Therefore it is too soon for implementation of democracy in Afghanistan.
Overall, for the real democratization in Afghanistan, security is required to insure peoples’ life, along with a good education system, human rights, democratic elections, trustworthy civilian society, and the most important thing is time. It will take time to implement democracy in Afghanistan.
References:
Afghan constitution, (n.a.), Article 22, Retrieved 20 March 2008, from http://arabic.cnn.com/afghanistan/ConstitutionAfghanistan.pdf
BBC news,(n.a.), Afghanistan, Retrieved 20 March 2008, from
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=i&q=afghanistan
University of Denver, Rowe, Chris, Democratization in Afghanistan, Retrieved 20 March 2008 from http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/digest/reconstruction/afgdem.pdf
[1] Dr. Paul Scott has been the professor for democratization class in European Peace University (EPU), March 2008.
[2] Hamid Karzai is the current president of Afghanistan elected on 2005 by people.
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