Urban Politics in Three Afghan Cities –
Countering or Exacerbating Local Inequality?
Daniel E. Esser
with Jo Beall
Development Studies Institute
London School of Economics and Political Science
SPURS Research Fellow 2003-04
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Prepared for delivery at the 2004 Annual Meeting
of the American Political Science Association,
September 2 - September 5, 2004.
I would like to thank Jo Beall for her contributions and her crucial advice. Without her
collaboration this research would not have been possible. I have also benefited greatly
from conversations with Antonio Giustozzi, Lalith Lankatilleke, Jolyon Leslie, Yasin
Safar and all other respondents in Kabul, Mazar-I-Sharif and Herat. Sohail Aziz Shariq,
Aimal Ahmadzai, Zuhal Gul and Faraidoon Jawed Shariq of the Afghanistan Research
and Evaluation Unit (AREU) were very skilled assistants to this research, and Alexia
Coke, Aftab Opel and Ben Oppenheim provided helpful feedback and support. I am also
grateful to the German National Academic Foundation for their financial assistance. This
paper is borne out of a short-term project funded by the World Bank; however, none of
the arguments and conclusions made here necessarily represent the views of any person
or organization mentioned above, and all remaining errors and omissions are mine.
Copyright by the American Political Science Association.