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Showing all content in Afghanistan
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Blog post
Urbanisation in fragile societies: Thinking about Kabul
As part of the Blavatnik School of Government’s “Challenges of Government” Conference, the International Growth Centre’s Cities that Work team put together a panel on identity and legitimacy in Kabul. The discussion highlighted the importance of building legitimacy in fragile contexts, particularly given the emergence of fragmented identities and new networks of...
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Project
Government mobile salary payments in Afghanistan
Governments must pay their employees for states to function. The current salary payment system in Afghanistan involves a combination of cash transfers and bank-based electronic funds transfers (EFTs). It is subject to frequent delays and, in some cases, severe leakage. Mobile Salary Payments (MSPs) hold the potential to simplify and improve the payment process, as...
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Project
Local monitoring of teacher attendance in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has struggled for decades with insecurity and a corrupt and ineffective government. Strengthening state institutions and guaranteeing service delivery are widely viewed as critical for creating peace, stability, and growth. To do so, it is essential that government employees’ salaries are not lost to corruption. However, in the absence of an adequate...
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Publication - Evidence Paper
Identity, norms, narratives, and state bureaucracy: Evidence from tax administration in Afghanistan
The effectiveness and legitimacy of a public organisation may depend to a large degree not only on institutional arrangement but also on the behaviour of actors within institutions and the interactions between the two. This paper argues that beliefs, in the form of identity, norms, and narratives, significantly affect bureaucratic effectiveness. They can have various...
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Multimedia Item - Video
Kabul: Identity, legitimacy and governance
What roles do cities, with their youthful populations, play in developing a sense of identity and legitimacy in fragile contexts? This panel takes Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan and the fifth fastest-growing city in the world, as a case study to examine how urban contexts and actors can support, or undermine, national stability by providing a dense spatial context...
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Blog post
Identity, norms and narratives and state bureaucracy
The process of building state effectiveness and legitimacy is lengthy and far more complex in transitional societies and contexts of fragility. A lack of legitimacy makes it more difficult to build key public organisations (e.g. taxation authorities, police, and judiciary). Public services are crucial for societies to reduce poverty, build resilience to shocks, and prevent...
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Publication - Working Paper
Estimating economic characteristics with phone data
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Publication - Country study
Building legitimacy and state capacity in protracted fragility: The case of Afghanistan
This country study is published by the LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development.
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Blog post
Conflict and firms: Industrial organisation in the face of insecurity
Conflict has a long shadow, and its role in inhibiting development is clear. Today, a billion and a half people live in countries affected by fragility, conflict, or violence (World Bank 2011). The important decisions individuals make in their daily lives – where to travel, where to live, where to work – are all haunted by the spectre of violence. Not only does personal...
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Country
Afghanistan