Democracy's Dilemma

David Shams evaluates the theory of state legitimacy within the context of the fledgling Afghan democracy. Against specific criteria outlined in this book, he examines the degree to which the Afghan democratic state has achieved legitimacy since inception. Shams argues that warlords' participation in Afghanistan's democratic process has undermined the legitimacy of the state. Human rights violations, drug trade and institutional corruption constitute the perimeters of a triangle set by warlords within which the state falls short of the moral authority necessary to assert legitimacy. On one hand, in order to survive it has to compromise with and appease the warlords; on the other, it struggles to eradicate drugs and uproot corruption. To achieve these objectives, the state has adopted paradoxical policies and taken contradictory measures simultaneously. This in turn, has resulted in ineffectual governance and the weakness of its status as a legitimate body in the eyes of the public.