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Early Modern State Formation in Afghanistan in Relation to Pashtun Tribalism
Author(s) -
Sungur Zeynep Tuba
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
studies in ethnicity and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1754-9469
pISSN - 1473-8481
DOI - 10.1111/sena.12211
Subject(s) - tribalism , afghan , reign , modernization theory , state (computer science) , tribe , ancient history , political science , history , political economy , sociology , law , politics , computer science , algorithm
The overall objective of this article is to analyse the encounter between Pashtun tribalism and state centralization as part of a modernization programme in Afghanistan in the almost fifty‐year period between 1880 and 1929. Focusing on Pashtuns, the article attempts to show how a segment of Pashtuns acted as the founders and rulers of the modern Afghan state while another segment sustained their tribal features and rejected the authority of the central state. Presenting the tribe–state conflict through the case of Pashtuns in a historical framework, the article looks at the reign of three Afghan amirs: Abdurrahman, Habibullah, and Amanullah. Analysing how this conflict proceeded in this period, the article concludes that Pashtun tribalism survived within the early modernization process in Afghanistan.