The State and Social Contract in Afghanistan: A Historical Analysis

Abstract

This research is a historical analysis of the complex and evolving relationship between the state and society in Afghanistan through the lens of social contract theory. The research discusses how external interventions and internal enforcement mechanisms have imposed state structure on Afghanistan’s multi-ethnic and tribal society. Through the theoretical framework of classical social contract theory and the state-building model by the OECD, the research assesses how the above variables have affected political development in Afghanistan. The qualitative historical analysis in the research, based on secondary sources, traces the trajectory of formation of a modern state in Afghanistan from the early encounters in the 19th century up to the collapse of the U.S.- backed Afghan Republic in 2021. It finds that external interventions have consistently failed to create a sustainable social contract since most of the state-building efforts were often exogenous to Afghan society’s complex socio-political realities. Instead, such processes have encouraged centralized governance arrangements driven by a few elites, with heightened ethnic, tribal, and religious fragmentation leading to the undermining of state legitimacy