Examining Ethnic Accommodation and Coalition-Building Under Alternative Forms of Government in Afghanistan

Abstract

In post-conflict states like Afghanistan facilitating ethnic accommodation through encouraging inclusive institutions and policies are the first concerns of constitutional designers. While some constitutional choices successfully address these concerns others wholly or partly fail. Afghan Constitution tells a story partly of success and partly of failure. Its success story highlights the formation of cross-ethnic electoral coalitions and the practices of relatively inclusive political distributions. Its failure underlines the less inclusive policies of the government and the inability of electoral coalitions to institutionalize. Many scholars and politicians link the failures to the presidential system and advocate for adopting a parliamentary or a semi-presidential constitution. Others highlight the advantages of the presidential system and argue against any constitutional change. This article engages the literature by examining both the current system and the alternatives. But it goes beyond the conventional discourse to examine the optimality of adapting the current presidential system as well.