Michael Fredholm

This is the first book to scrutinize the root causes of problems today with Afghan reconstruction. It begins in 1880 with the coming to power of Emir Abdur Rahman and departure of an occupying British army. On the northern border, Russian forces were also poised. Determined to preserve Afghan independence, Abdur Rahman devised a nation-building project grounded on centralized, autocratic rule and based on security, modernization and economic reform. Though continued by his successors, this project ultimately failed. A key reason for this was that, even as Abdur Rahman implemented policies that might be understood as 'Western' and 'rational', the great powers of the day took their cue from traditional institutional relationships in Afghanistan; local patronage relations were extended to the international level. In the process, Afghanistan became a rentier state, Abdur Rahman's model abandoned in favor of foreign subsidies increasingly diverted from security and economic development. Successive foreign powers, especially the Soviet Union and United States, have upheld this centralized, rentier model of governance and development despite it consistently failing over the years. This work explores dynamics seldom covered in other studies of Afghanistan, including conflict between state-imposed pashtunization and multiple local/ethnic identities, likewise contradictions between the clericalism and secularism deployed in the nation-building process. It explores the largely overlooked ebb and flow of institutional development in Afghanistan, at all levels, in the context of international interest in the country, with special attention to Soviet and US/Coalition strategies and their effects. It also focuses on the power of patronage relations in establishing and retaining control in Afghanistan, and how the extension of such relations to the international level transformed Afghanistan into a rentier state that struggles to unite its people. Described by one Afghanistan expert as an excellent piece of work, very well documented with close attention to detail, this study offers sober analysis and critical insights. It will interest scholars and students of Afghan affairs plus policy-makers, diplomats, soldiers, international organizations and NGOs, businesses, journalists and many others engaged with Afghanistan and issues of political, military and economic power, democratization and civil-military relations in the region.

Persistent Failure of a Rentier State

Afghanistan Beyond the Fog of War

Michael J. Sulick

Robert M. Clark

Douglas L. Wheeler

James B. Bruce

John F. Sullivan

Thomas Fingar

Stewart A. Baker

Philip Mudd

Rose Mary Sheldon

Edward F. Mickolus

Elbridge Colby

Stefania Paladini

Michael S. Goodman

Jan Goldman

Gary E. Weir

Edward Mozley Roche

Mark M. Lowenthal

David L. Charney

Peter C. Oleson

Joshua M. Bart

Eleni C. Braat

Ronald L. Burgess, Jr.

Stephen H. Campbell

Jonathan D. Clemente

José Medina González Dávila

Lawrence D. Dietz

Robert E. Dupré

Huw Dylan

Rowena Rege Fischer

Jennifer H. Fisher

Carl W. Ford, Jr.

Arthur E. Gerringer

Tobias T. Gibson

Edward J. Glantz

Karl O. Haigler

Philippe Hayez

Jan P. Herring

G. Philip Hughes

John Alan Irvin

Stéphane J. Lefebvre

Jeremy Jez Littlewood

N. John MacGaffin, 3rd

Stephen Patrick Marrin

Hedwige Regnault de Maulmin

Robert A. McDonald

John J. McGonagle, Jr.

Robert A. Mirabello

William M. Nolte

Robert A. Norton

Mirielle M. Petitjean

Samuel Eugene Poteat

Douglas R. Price

Robert W. Pringle

Frederick W. Rustmann, Jr.

Ernesto J. Sanchez

John R. Sano

Florian Schaurer

Robert Anthony Smith

Thomas R. Spencer, Jr.

William C. Spracher

James E. Steiner

Jan Störger

Mark E. Stout

Adam D. M. Svendsen

Michelle K. Van Cleave

Carl Anthony Wege

Jon A. Wiant

The goal of the Guide to the Study of Intelligence is to help instructors teach about the field of intelligence. This includes... undergraduate and graduate professors of History, Political Science, International Relations, Security Studies, and related topics, especially those with no or limited professional experience in the field. The assumption is that none of the... instructors is an expert in the topic of intelligence. Even those who are former practitioners are likely to have only a limited knowledge of the very broad field of intelligence, as most spend their careers in one or two agencies at most and may have focused only on collection or analysis of intelligence or support to those activities."In each of the articles the intent is to identify the important learning points for students and the materials that an instructor can use to teach. This includes books, articles, and websites..."

AFIO's Guide to the Study of Intelligence

Birgit N. Schlyter

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has developed into a key regional security group in Asia, its member states representing no less than 'half of humanity'. Alarmists believe that the SCO is making itself into a NATO of the East, thus posing a long-term threat to the West. This book looks at the SCO and Eurasion geopolitics in general.

New Directions, Perspectives, and Challenges

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Eurasian Geopolitics

This volume examines the lone actor terrorist phenomenon, including the larger societal trends which may or may not have led to their acts of terrorism. With lone actor terrorism becoming an increasingly common threat, the contributors to this volume aim to answer the following questions: What drives the actions of individuals who become lone actor terrorists? Are ideological and cultural issues key factors, or are personal psychological motives more useful in assessing the threat? Do lone actors evolve in a broader social context or are they primarily fixated loners? What response strategies are available to security services and law enforcement? What is the future outlook for this particular terrorist threat? Although these issues are frequently discussed, few books have taken a global perspective as their primary focus. While many books focus on lone actor terrorists in relation to terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaida and the Islamic State, few, if any, cover lone actors of all ideological backgrounds, including the variants of active shooters and malicious insiders in information security, such as Edward Snowden – with both of these latter categories constituting an important variant of lone actors. Utilising the expertise of academics and practitioners, the volume offers a valuable multidisciplinary perspective. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, political violence, criminology, security studies and IR.

Past Experience, Future Outlook, and Response Strategies

Understanding Lone Actor Terrorism

Michael Fredholm

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