Annotated Bibliography

Our most recent assignment was to find an article relevant to our topic and write an annotated bibliography on it. My chosen article for the draft was a neat little informal discussion on wearing the hijab and using the Internet for support, but sadly it wasn't as relevant to Afghanistan as I wanted it to be. Therefore, I present:

Mac Ginty, R. (2010). Warlords and the liberal peace: state-building in Afghanistan. Conflict, Security & Development : CSD, 10(4), 577.

Roger Mac Ginty, a Reader at the University of St Andrews, analyses the contradictions in relying on local warlords in Afghanistan in building a new state that follows the model of "liberal peace" He first defines liberal peace as the type of intervention in a post-conflict state based on the ideas of international institutions, which is usually implemented along with democratic institutions. However, introducing liberal peace into Afghanistan has been difficult because the administrations following the fall of the Taliban have often included local warlords, whom operate within a policy of clan loyalty and military superiority over one another. They were particularly useful in the fight against the Taliban because of their military and financial strength, but their woeful human-rights record was overlooked until now, and many warlords continue to pursue their own agendas even in the new administration. Therefore, Mac Ginty's argument is that the expectation of a smooth transition to a Western-style democratic state in Afghanistan is unreasonable because of its context, and that trying to use Western-style models in local politics overlooks the social constructs of the warlords and their loyalties.

This article highlights a very important and complex issue confronting coalition forces and the local Afghan government, as one decides how to use one's resources to construct a stable, reliable administration that the people can rely on, and in what capacity should the local warlords be used. While the article is undoubtedly very informative and detailed, it is very long and the writing is filled with technical jargon that is difficult to understand without at least a background in political science. Although "liberal peace" is defined, it is used in conjunction with other obscure terms where the author assumes the reader will immediately understand the context. In addition, Mac Ginty's use of vocabulary is not particularly concise, as he describes something as "a costly endeavour" when "expensive" would have been an adequate substitute.

On the whole, this article would be very useful when researching international relations theory, political institutions and post-conflict reconstruction, as well as studying the social and political culture of Afghanistan. For my part, the presence of the warlords and the power they can wield will be an important factor as I continue to explore the country's security issues and how the United States will respond in their foreign policy.