Political Order, Religion, and Pluralism in Afghanistan

• In Event: Capturing Causal Complexity: Islam/ism and Democracy

Abstract

Establishing a pluralistic political order in a society with contentious religious claims and powerful Islamist groups requires state capacity. Diversity also presents a profound test for the fragile Muslim state in terms of its institutional capacity. A weak state may not have the required capacity to implement pluralistic policy with respect to religion. The tension between secular and Islamist forces puts the political order in the weak states at bay. While much literature argues in favor of the accommodation of religion in the public sphere, it has remained unaddressed how a weak state will craft, protect, and implement a pluralistic policy. Beyond endorsing pluralism as a policy, one must ask what sort of institutional arrangement would be suitable for a weak state to administer pluralism.
The proposed paper hypothesizes that a polycentric approach best suits a weak state to administer pluralistic policy with respect to religion. It investigates the triadic relations between the state, society, and religion’s relations in republican Afghanistan (2001-2021) with respect to political order. It contends that Afghanistan’s failure of the political order is inherent in its inability to carve out a suitable polycentric model to administer the role of religion both in polity and society.

Author

• Omar Sadr, University of Pittsburgh