Basic Theory of Obstacles to Democratic and Participatory Political Culture in Afghanistan

Introduction: The transition to democracy or even the beginning of the democratization process is affected by various factors that researchers have pointed out based on their theoretical tendencies: modernization, economic situation, external pressure, integration of trust networks in public policy, trust in the government. Institutions have been introduced as effective factors in the transition. Political culture, which is generally based on the link between politics, culture, and especially the influence of culture, beliefs and values in the cultural structure of political societies, is included in this matter. The participation of citizens in political issues and government affairs is very important in the establishment of the system and it requires the active participation of people in their destiny and their society with rational judgment for intervention and be effective in making decisions to achieve national goals and at the same time in determining public policies and how to govern the country. In the last hundred years, Afghanistan has gone through many periods to achieve the rule of law, the right to vote, the enjoyment of civil rights and liberties and the limitation of the powers of rulers and politicians to enact laws and constitutions.
Research Question: This research seeks to answer the question that according to the political and cultural conditions of Afghanistan, what factors have hindered the transition to a democratic and participatory political culture?
Research Hypothesis: Due to the structural weaknesses and widespread administrative corruption of Afghanistan's previous political system, democracy has had less opportunity to grow and spread in this country.
Methodology: In this research, due to the researcher's inability to travel to Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of this country, it was not possible to identify a statistically significant population for the survey. Therefore, interviews were conducted with selected individuals by asking a series of questions. The interview consisted of 17 questions and a personal information table. Factors that were important for the interviews included indicators such as gender, religion, ethnicity, literacy level and residence in Afghanistan. Therefore, people were identified who were either living in Afghanistan or recently immigrated from Afghanistan or came to Iran for a trip. After providing necessary infrastructure for conducting the interviews and identifying the selected individuals, the data for this study were collected through semi-structured interviews, the sample size of this study.
In this study, through open coding, more than 120 concepts were extracted from meaningful sentences. These concepts were combined in 22 subcategories and 13 main categories and a final core category, "Obstacles to Participatory and Democratic Political Culture in Afghanistan," was extracted from all the main categories.
Results and Discussion: In this research, the central and fundamental issue that always emerges from the data and to which all other main issues are related is "obstacles to a participatory and democratic political culture in Afghanistan". The central phenomenon of this study explains what obstacles prevent the establishment of a democratic and participatory political culture in Afghanistan. Additionally, because the central phenomenon is constructed from key concepts such as "inefficiency of the national government in the context of historical developments", "weakness of national and local political institutions", "marginalization and elimination of women and political elites in society", "political passivity and disillusionment of people in the shadow of a rent-seeking and independent government", and "lack of political outlook growth and structural and administrative corruption as barriers to democracy", it is called "obstacles to a participatory and democratic political culture in Afghanistan."
Conclusion: The main concern of this research is to identify the structural and mental obstacles that have prevented the democratization of the political system in Afghanistan for years. According to Huntington's action-oriented approach, which focuses on the analysis of factors preventing the transition to democracy, the structure of the non-democratic political system of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, with fewer opportunities for political expansion and development within the framework of democracy, can be viewed from the perspective of nationalism. He has analyzed monopolization, administrative corruption and rent-seeking, suppression of political parties and organizations, lack of rule of law, unhealthy and non-transparent elections, and factors of this kind, all of which contribute to the failure to transition to a democratic and participatory political culture in the country. An important point that is constantly visible under the comments of the participants and has been mentioned in the main and sub-categories, is the strong demand of the people to hold safe and transparent elections and of course to emphasize the constructive and effective activities of political institutions. Although the level of political participation in Afghanistan is low due to the above-mentioned reasons, the result of this research points to the lack of development of the desired political attitude of democracy in this country, therefore this does not mean that people feel the need for constructive and decisive participation in their political destiny. They don't have it, except that the maximum demand is to hold safe elections with the presence of candidates from various ethnic and religious spectrums, which will be postponed for the time being when the Taliban comes back to power. Successful democratization in Afghanistan depends on the existence of developed socio-economic structures with the condition of the presence of civil society, the positive role of foreign and international factors and the appropriate democratic model among political elites, which increases the possibility of achieving it. Without any of these elements, democratization will not take place.