 Deproblematizing the Federal–Unitary Dichotomy: Insights from a Public Opinion Survey about Approaches to Designing a Political System in AfghanistanMohammad Bashir Mobasher and Mohammad Qadam Shah Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2022, vol. 52, issue 2, 225-253 Abstract: This study draws on results of an opinion survey about public views in Afghanistan regarding concepts related to federalism. We argue that concepts such as unitarism, federalism, centralization, and decentralization are highly politicized and often misunderstood when they enter the public discourse. As the survey results indicate, the association of ethnic groups with different systems of governance, although popular in Afghanistan, is misleading. A concurrent majority of ethnic groups takes a more nuanced approach of favoring central authorities on some issues, local authorities on others, and shared or divided authorities on the rest. The findings are helpful in contributing to a better understanding of how Afghans view federalism, and also by providing guidance to constitution-makers in designing institutional arrangements and distributions of power that address society’s needs. Date: 2022 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:52:y:2022:i:2:p:225-253. Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.