This briefing paper seeks to comprehend the local context and highlight the shortcomings of development and governance interventions in Afghanistan, Nangarhar. In an effort to understand the power relations at play, it explores subnational governance and access to public goods.
The key messages are:
- Initiatives to build improved and sustainable governance requires an understanding of formal and informal power relations.
- Policy makers must take into account the process of renegotiation and reconsolidation of the existing order through new institutions and practices.
- Informed and genuine donor coordination is necessary to avoid cultivating a rent-seeking culture among existing political elites, and prevent the capture of public resources and formal institutions for personal gain.
