Afghanistan

<p>This book offers an overview of the formation of the Afghan state and of the politics economic challenges and international relations of contemporary Afghanistan. </p><p>It opens with an account of some of the key features that make Afghanistan unique and proceeds to discuss how the Afghan state acquired a distinctive character as a rentier state. In addition the authors outline a complex range of domestic and external factors that led to the breakdown of the state and how that breakdown gave rise to a set of challenges with which Afghan political and social actors have been struggling to deal since the 2001 international intervention that overthrew the anti-modernist Taliban regime. It then presents the different types of politics that Afghanistan has witnessed over the last two decades; examines some of the most important features of the Afghan economy; and demonstrates how Afghanistan’s geopolitical location and international relations more broadly have complicated the task of promoting stability in the post-2001 period. It concludes with some reflections on the factors that are likely to shape Afghanistan’s future trajectory and notes that if there are hopes for a better future they largely rest on the shoulders of a globalised generation of younger Afghans.</p><p>This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Middle East and Central Asian studies international relations politics development studies and history. </p>