Skip to main content

The Next Generation’s Initiative: Learning from the Past to Build the Future of Afghanistan

September 9, 2023

9:00 am

L28 Hughes Hall

This conference aims to bring together Afghan scholars and Afghanistan experts, primarily the next generation, to engage in discussions about the future of Afghanistan by analyzing past failures.

Afghanistan has faced conflict, crisis, instability, and civil war for the past half-century. In each period, political elites implemented top-down approaches, paired with external interventions, to overcome these problems. Unfortunately, these political frameworks failed to bring about lasting positive change in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have experienced communist, Islamic, and democratic regimes, and they have witnessed the destructive consequences of these political designs. To envision a better tomorrow for Afghanistan, it is crucial for the country's next generation of scholars to critically examine the past and ask several critical “what” and “why” questions.

What events led us to the current situation? What failures and problems prevented us from seizing opportunities for state-building and nation-building? Why did different political designs fail in Afghanistan? Why did the democratic establishment collapse? Why has Afghanistan been unable to utilize international aid effectively for infrastructure and development? By asking such questions, we can move on to asking “how” questions. How can the people of Afghanistan come together, learn from the past, and build a brighter future? This future must be inclusive, egalitarian, multicultural, democratic, free, and, above all, a home for every citizen of the country.

SCHEDULE

9:00 am Welcome Sharif Hozoori, South Asia Program, Cornell University

9:15-10:45 am Panel 1: Balancing Governance in Afghanistan: Secularization, Sharia, and Patrimonialism

Farid Tookhy, Senior Fellow, Institute for Peace & Diplomacy Divergent Notions of Political Authority: A Century of Theoretical and Physical Contestation

Mohammad Mansoor Ehsan, International Affairs, George Mason University Sharia Vigilantism Under the Taliban Rule in Afghanistan

Zinab Attai, Government, Cornell University Seeing like a Neopatrimonial State: Reframing the Study of Afghanistan’s Political Architecture

Chair: Mathew Evangelista, Government, Cornell University

11:00 am – 12:30 pm Panel 2: Afghanistan's Nation-Building Struggle: Identity, Inclusivity, and the Public Sphere

Mirwais Balkhi, Fellow, Wilson Center Afghanistan’s Next Generation’s Initiative: A New Social Contact for Living Together

Omar Sadr, Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh The Rise and Fall of Afghanistan’s Public Sphere

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq, Philosophy and Critical Thinking, Coppin State University Acknowledging Effective Afghan subjectivity

Chair: Seema Golestaneh, Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University

1:30-3:00 pm Panel 3: Constitutional Law: Political Order, Rule of Law, and Public Perspectives

Bashir Mobasher, Sociology, American University Islamic Republic versus Islamic Emirate: What Constitutional Order People Want?

Mahir Hazim, Law, Arizona State University The Politics and Constitutionality of Law-Making in the Afghan Republic: An Authoritarian and Unrestrained Executive

Shamshad Pasarlay, Law, University of Chicago A Constitutional Postmortem: The Rise and Fall of Afghanistan’s 2004 Constitution

Chair: Chantal Thomas, Law School, Cornell University

3:00 pm Conclusion Tawab Danish, Law School, Cornell University

Register to attend virtually. No registration required for in-person attendance.

Organized by the South Asia Program and the Cornell Law School's Clark Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa. Cosponsored by the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Government, and the Religious Studies, Comparative Muslim Societies, and Peace & Conflict Studies Programs.

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

South Asia Program

Comparative Muslim Societies Program