Afghanistan and the 2019 Elections - Experiences from the field.

Afghanistan remains a country with a significant recent history of electoral activity and insecurity still haunts the lives of ordinary Afghans. The upcoming presidential elections will be a litmus test for the country’s progress towards stabilization and security.

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is honoured to host Professor William Maley, for a presentation on “Afghanistan and the 2019 elections”. Professor Maley will be sharing his insights and learnings after his recent visit to Afghanistan where he went to observe the presidential elections. 

In this presentation, Professor Maley reflects on how constitutional and electoral choices since 2001 have not only contributed to shaping the politics of Afghanistan, but have also created significant problems for the administration of electoral processes. In particular, he highlights the danger of thinking that quick technological 'fixes' can be deployed to address profound problems of social and political distrust.

William Maley is Professor of Diplomacy at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at The Australian National University. He is a Member of the Order of Australia, and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In November 2003, he received the AUSTCARE Paul Cullen Humanitarian Award for services to refugees. He is author of Rescuing Afghanistan (2006), The Afghanistan Wars (2009), What is a Refugee? (2016), and Transition in Afghanistan: Hope, Despair and the Limits of Statebuilding (2018).

He edited Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban (1998); and co-edited The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan (1989), From Civil Strife to Civil Society: Civil and Military Responsibilities in Disrupted States (2003), Global Governance and Diplomacy: Worlds Apart? (2008), Reconstructing Afghanistan: Civil-military experiences in comparative perspective (2015), Theorising the Responsibility to Protect (2015), and Afghanistan – Challenges and Opportunities (2018).

International IDEA, as part of its focus on electoral processes, aims to support the integrity of electoral institutions and processes, focusing on the ability of the election authorities / bodies to carry out their mandate with a view to support sustainable democratic electoral practices.

Speaker: William Maley, Professor of Diplomacy at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy

Moderator: Therese Pearce-Laanela, Head of Electoral Processes at International IDEA