Afghan Patchwork State

Ryan Brasher is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of History and Political Science at Simpson University in Redding California. His research focus is centered on ethnic identity, nationalism, political religion, and state-building in Central and South Asia. He has previously published on the construction of Tajik identity in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, on different manifestations of Political Islam in Afghanistan and Pakistan, on domestic determinants of Pakistan’s foreign policy toward its neighbors, the political attitudes of the Christian minority in Pakistan, as well as ethnic identity and assimilation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Political Ideology in Afghanistan: The Modernist Alternative.- Chapter 3: Political Ideology in Afghanistan: Patrimonial Absolutism.- Chapter 4: 1929 as a Critical Juncture.- Chapter 5: Regime Perception of and Actions Toward Local Elites: Allies.- Chapter 6: Regime Perceptions of and Actions Toward Local Elites: Rivals.- Chapter 7: Long-Term Development of Infrastructural Power.- Chapter 8: Conclusion.