Learning in the chaos: A political economy analysis of education in Afghanistan

PHERALI, T. and SAHAR, Arif (2018). Learning in the chaos: A political economy analysis of education in Afghanistan. Research in Comparative and International Education, 13 (2), 239-258.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Sahar_LearningInThe(AM).pdf - Accepted Version
All rights reserved.

Download (534kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/174549991...
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499918781882

Abstract

© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. Afghanistan is often characterised as a ‘failed’ or ‘fragile’ state in terms of state ‘functionality’, lacking in capacity to provide security and wellbeing to its citizens and failing to prevent violent conflict and terrorism. Since 2001, education has become a major victim of Afghanistan’s protracted crisis that involves international military interventions, fragile democracy and growing radicalisation. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with educational officials and practitioners in Afghanistan and critically examining the literature in education and conflict, we argue that Afghanistan’s education is caught in the nexus between deteriorating security conditions, weak governance and widespread corruption, resulting in rebel capture of educational spaces for radicalisation and violent extremism. More broadly, we contend that education faces the risk of capture for radicalisation in contexts where state fragility and fundamentalism intersect. Finally, we highlight some critical issues relating to educational programming in conflict-affected contexts.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Education and conflict; Afghanistan; political economy; security and state-building
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499918781882
Page Range: 239-258
SWORD Depositor: Symplectic Elements
Depositing User: Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited: 11 Jun 2020 12:14
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 01:31
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/25960

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics