Ph.d.-forsvar i statskundskab ved Christian Bayer Tygesen

Kandidat

Christian Bayer Tygesen

Titel

“Who Guards the Guardians in Kabul? Afghanistan between autocracy, democracy, and state collapse”. Afhandlingen vil kunne købes i Akademisk Boghandel, Øster Farimagsgade 5, bygning 7, 1353 København K, og koster 150 kr.

Tid og sted

15. november 2013. kl. 14:00-16:30 på Københavns Universitet, Center for Sundhed og Samfund, Institut for Statskundskab, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 København K., lokale 4.2.26 (Frokoststuen). Af hensyn til kandidaten lukkes dørene præcis.

Bedømmelsesudvalg

• Lektor Birthe Hansen, Institut for Statskundskab, Københavns Universitet (formand)
• Professor Theo Farrell, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London, UK
• Senior Research Fellow Astri Suhrke, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norge

Resumé

This PhD thesis examines Afghanistan’s civil-military relationship from 2010 to 2012 and assesses how it may affect the country’s future political development. A functional civil-military relationship that serves shared elite interests would support conditions for stability and an inclusive political order. A dysfunctional civil-military relationship dominated by special interests can lead to autocracy or a collapse of the state. Who guards the guardians in Kabul and how they do so can thus be important to Afghanistan’s future.

What characterizes the development of Afghanistan’s civil-military relationship in its current political transition? This research question is answered by analysing structural and unit-level indicators of the degree and quality of civilian control of the Afghan National Army at the strategic level in Kabul from September 2010 to September 2012. On this basis, inferences on the development country’s civil-military relation are drawn. 

The thesis draws on more than six months of field studies in Afghanistan and interviews and research in Kabul, Washington D.C. and at Stanford University, California.

The thesis makes an empirical and theoretical contribution. The literature on contemporary Afghanistan generally identifies the state’s civil-military relation as crucial to the country’s future. Yet no rigorous studies of Afghanistan’s current civil-military relation have been published. This leaves a gap in our understanding of contemporary Afghanistan and calls into question the basis on which projections on Afghanistan’s future are based.