AFGHANISTAN: POST-MODERNIZING A PRE-MODERN SOCIETY?
The defined purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of post-modernizing pre-modern societies, having as example the case of Afghanistan. Assuming that political modernity implies the existence of a centralized state, we will show that there never was a modern period in the history of Afgh...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
European Institute of Romania
2009-09-01
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| Series: | Romanian Journal of European Affairs |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ier.ro/documente/rjea_vol9_no3/RJEA_Vol_9_No3_AFGHANISTAN_POST-MODERNIZING_A_PRE-MODERN_SOCIETY.pdf |
| Summary: | The defined purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of post-modernizing pre-modern societies, having as example the case of Afghanistan. Assuming that political modernity implies the existence of a centralized state, we will show that there never was a modern period in the history of Afghanistan. The last part of this paper focuses on presenting the impact that the phenomenon of post-modernization has had on Afghanistan, by analysing four characteristics of the contemporary world - the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union: the critique of the fungible character of power; the privatisation of security; the new types of wars; the regionalization and fragmentation of the world. The dilemma that needs to be solved is that of surpassing the risks brought about by the co-existence of three levels of evolution: the pre-modern level (the segmented Afghan society), the modern level (the attempt to found a centralized state), the post-modern level (the attempt to anchor the new-founded state in the global system, from a political, economic and cultural point of view). |
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| ISSN: | 1582-8271 1841-4273 |