Afghanistan
At some point my path is likely to lead me to Afghanistan but I highly doubt that it will be as a member of the Canadian Forces team serving there. Instead I hope to journey there to undertake an assessment of that countries Strategic Culture. The paper, The Geographical Pivot of Afghanistan, is a starting point on that project as it explores the influence of its geography on the development of its political culture. In order ot be true to my own premise, however, I hope to undertake an assessment of the Strategic Culture of Canada. But first, my exploration of the Political Culture of Afghanistan.
In support of the dream to someday travel to Afghanistan, thanks to the kindness of a dear friend, I also have the initial tools for Pashto self study. The following paper will serve as a good starting point on which to build a national profile for Afghanistan. It will be interesting to compare what I learn with what I remember from my early childhood in neighbouring Pakistan.
Afghan Paper.pdf - The Geographical Pivot of Afghanistan 2007
Paper Proposal:
The Impact of Geography on the Political Culture of Afghanistan
This
paper proposes to look at the role of geography in shaping the political culture
of the Afghan Region. The exploration shall begin with establishing a
definition for the term political culture as derived from both anthropology and
political science. There are three aspects of Geography that shall be
considered. Physical geography shall included a brief look at the micro or
regional and local topography as it relates to the development of transportation
and communication within the region, and the available resources.
Strategic Geography shall look at the location of Afghanistan relative to
surrounding and often conflicted political regions. Human Geography shall
look briefly at the people. (Given the requisite brevity of this paper, I
suppose I shall only be looking 'briefly' at pretty much everything in this
study).
Contemporary
political reference to the region as Afghanistan appears to be erroneous as it
is based on the post colonial superimposition of borders and an assumed
political cohesion on a collection of distinct and regionally specific tribes.
The premise in the paper is twofold. In terms of regional topography, the area has few natural corridors for the development of consistent communication and transportationwhile having multiple natural barriers between evolving indigenous tribal groups. This coupled with a harsh climate in much of the region predisposes the population to establish itself in competitive and combative, naturally fortified and isolated settlements.
In
terms of strategic location, the Afghan region is situated at a veritable cross
road between Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and
Europe.
Historically this location has predisposed the area to play
host/highway to multiple hostile forces intent on either securing the area for
strategic purposes or using it as a conduit for inter-regional
aggression.
The combination of the micro and macro geography, it will be argued, has habituated the various indigenous peoples to conflict and made it an integral part of their respective political cultures.
Proposed Bibliography:
Louis Dupree, "Afghanistan", Oxford University Press, Pakistan, 2005
Peter Pigot, "Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far" Dundern Press, Toronto, 2007
Martin Ewans, “Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics” Harper Collins Publishers, UK, 2001
Stephen Tanner, “Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban” Da Capo Press, 2002
G. Whitney Azoy, "Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan - Second Edition" Waveland Press Inc 2003
Rory Stewart, “The Places in Between” Penguin Canada, 2004
Ahmed Rashid, “Taliban” Yale University Press, 2001
Neloffer Pazira, “A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan” Vintage Canada, 2005
Steve Coll, “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001” Penguin Books, 2004
Robert Fisk, “The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East” Harper Perennial, 2005, 2006
Mountstuart Elphinstone, "Account of the Kingdom of Caubul" (First published in 1802) Munshirm Manoharlal, 1998
John Agnew, "Making Political Geography: Human Geography in the Making," Arnold Publishers UK, distributed in the US by Oxford University Press, 2002
Geoffrey Kemp and Robert E. Harkavy, “Strategic Geography and the Changing Middle East” Brookings Institution Press, 1997
Ruth Benedict, “Patterns of Culture” Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 1934
Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, “A History of Anthropological Theory- Second Edition” Broadview Press, 2003
Joy Hendry, “Other People’s Worlds: An Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology” New York University Press 1999
Stephen Chilton, “Grounding Political Development” Lynn Reinner Publishers, 1991
Abraham H. Maslow, "Toward a
Psychology of Being", John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.; 3rd Edition edition 1998