Process of development and modernization In Afghanistan During Amanullah Khan, and Turkey:
I. Introduction:
This paper will examine the process of modernization and development in Afghanistan during the era of Amanullah Khan (1919-1929) and Turkey during the era of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1918-1938). Each state had used multiple theories of modernization and different approaches in order to modernize the state and be modernized. Modernization and development happened in both countries in chorus; while Afghanistan failed to become modernize under Amanullah khan but Turkey under Ataturk succeded to become modernize and develop. I will use the theories of Ibn-Khaldon, Weber, Smelser and Rostow, Charles Tilley’s war making and state making, to take a comparative analysis of modernization in both states and the aspects which led to modernization of turkey and fall of Amanullah Khan's governmnt.
The idea of Modernization is relatively new which was defined by French philosopher Marquis de Condorcet in 18th century, the theory was based on the idea that the people could develop and change their society. Furthermore, Modernization can be defined as the process of transformation from a traditional society to a modern society. Hence, Modernization is the key concerning openness to new experiences regarding both people and behaviors, and is shift in allegiance from those individuals in traditional authority structures (e.g. Khans, religious leaders) to those representing modern institutions (e.g. government leaders). On the other hand, development is the process of gradual growth in a state, those countries who carried out the four aspects of state building managed to develop their states and become modernize while others failed.
II. Modern...
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... the new currency for country (Afghani). As defined by Charles Tilly state building need four stages "war making, State making, protection and Extraction", extraction is the main element where the state can manage to put in action all the other three elements of state building. Amanullah khan's reforms failed in Afghanistan due to different reason's the first cause of Amanullah Khan's economical reforms was due to mountainous structure of state where the state failed to collect taxes from citizens of country and as well as capitalists failed to earn more profit since they were unable to transfer their products in different parts of country. Moreover, the reason behind his failure was that once those religious and tribal leaders who were paid by the family of king and ancestors of Amanullah Khan, during the era of Amanullah Khan they were forced to pay tax for state.
The novel Prince of Afghanistan by Louis Nowra (2015) explores two Australian soldiers, Casey and Mark who are involved in a mission to rescue hostages captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, due to the unfortunate death of Casey, being killed by a Taliban rocket, his dog, Prince is left behind with no carer, other than Mark. With the brutality of war, and the race against hunger, danger and time, they both must rely on each other for survival. As the story reflects upon Australians engagement with Asia, it conveys themes of friendship, trust and the nature of courage and heroism through the character, character development and the relationship among each other.
Ross states that to produce a more accountable and democratic government certain social changes need to take place. The modernization effect argument drew on the previous work of scholars Inglehart , Lipset and Deutsch and argued if “Occupational specialization, urbanization and higher levels of education” were to all improve, that in turn would help develop democracy prosper. Better education would lead to a more enlightened public better equipped to communicate and organize while improvements in occupational specialization would lead to enhanced skills and a more powerful middle-class. However, the scholars found that with oil wealth, these social changes are heavily inhibited, thus so is the democratic
Although differences in the attempts of modernization can be seen in terms of these gender issues and industrialization, both these regions created programs of defensive modernization and adopted Western ideas into their society.
During the Tanzimat, two royal decrees were issued that displayed exactly what the reform movement was all about. It promised certain administrative reforms, the abolition of tax farming, the standardization of military conscription, and the elimination of corruption. 2 These decrees created equality among all religions, decentralized the government, and helped to make the millets more a...
Modernity. A major sociological concept that explains social change would be modernity. Modernity explains the changes in social patterns that result in a nation industrializing (Macionis, Jansson, & Benoit, 2009). Since the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the Afghan people have been struggling to make social improvements to their living conditions (Kowaluk & Staples, 2008). The current Afghan government held by Hamid Karzai has been generally unpopular because the changes to living conditions have been very slow (Kow...
The next theory is the modernization theory, which is the basis for the rest of the essay. The modernization theory is that since the West led the push to modernization, many components of Western culture are embedded in modern society. “As the first civilization to modernize, the West is the first to have fully acquired the culture of modernity.” This theory also heavily relies on the idea that in order to modernize, the country must Westernize and lose its traditional culture. It is then proposed that although in present day many societies are modern, it does not mean they are all the same.
Paul de Man once said, “Modernity exists in the form of a desire to wipe out whatever came earlier, in the hope of reaching at least a point that could be called a true present, a point of origin that marks a new departure.” But what is he really trying to say? Modernity takes out the old and brings in the new, continually upgrading to something else? Modernity appears as a concept of change. It most commonly refers to the social conditions, processes, and discourses resulting from the Age of Enlightenment. The concept of modernity captures the progress of societies, from primitive civilizations, which evolved gradually through discrete stages, reaching a modern age characterized by industrialization and capitalism, concluding in the current, post-modern state of globalization which shapes contemporary society with ever increasing coercion. Modernity can be placed into many different time periods. There are two, however, that are the most relevant: Early modernity and Classical modernity. Early modernity consisted of theorists such as Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith and Alexis de Tocqueville. Classical modernity consisted of theorists such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. Many theorists have defined their own form of “modernity” which will be discussed throughout this paper.
Afghanistan’s importance with respect to the cultural impact of globalization is increasing as the war in Afghanistan draws down. Afghanistan sits on the edge of the unknown. Once the United States leaves it will be left to create its own destiny. The eyes of the world will be on Afghanistan to see who it allies with, who it trades with and how it conducts itself.
The historical debate continues to survive concerning whether the impressive figure, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a remarkable leader of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, who led the nation to form the Republic of Turkey or abolished the true ideals of the nation when gaining ultimate power. Through his control between 1923-1938, Ataturk successfully embarked on a program of revolutionary social and political reform that furthered and modernized Turkey, with this he emerged as the ultimate conqueror or an idol for the citizens of Turkey. Although the pride and honor many commended his achievement and triumph for, controversy arises and critics discuss otherwise. Individuals are left questioning if he abolished the true ethics within Turkey, such as religious views and the Islamic way of life. In order to express an opinion on Ataturk’s achievements or wrong doings when governing, the contrasting views create a perspective on the highly influential leader.
Through this perspective a capitalist society as viewed as modern due to their rapid technological and economic development. Traditional Societies are viewed as underdeveloped due to their inability to keep up with the growing technological advances. The latter countries need to adopt Western technologies, Institutions, and belief systems to improve their economic conditions. There are four main components to modernization theory.
After decades of war in Afghanistan in late 2001, first attempts have already been made by Afghans and international organizations to consult the Afghan people on how to build capacities in pace-building which was an encouraging sign. However, the people in general are still too reluctant to speak about their suffering during the war. Instead, their current priority is to struggle for economic survival in the highly competitive post-conflict reconstruction business with its emerging social injustice. This pragmatic attitude causes a basic problem. If the past is not addressed, efforts to build a lasting peace are endangered. As lessons from other post-conflict societies have shown, national reconciliation contributes to overcoming the past and reuniting a war-divided society (Schirch, Rafiee, & Sakhi, 2013). There are several ways to bring about peace, stability and harmony in Afghanistan. This paper reviews some issues crucial for discussing and designing a strategy of national reconciliation. Moreover, for narrowing the gap between the rival perceptions there is also a need for an Afghan peace process to prepare the ground for peace-building and a future reconciliation process and implementation of an Afghan mechanism of national reconciliation including the ‘’lessons learned’’ from the post-conflict societies.
Islamic nation. As examples given earlier about modernization which includes nations such as Turkey and on the other side of the spectrum the practice of Islamic Shariah. As a final note, my main objective from this book review is to see Islam from the eye of Muslims and Non-Muslims alike.
Modernisation theory has been a dominant theory since post-World War II (McMichael 2012:5) to describe development and social change. It is structured and outlined through five different stages of 'development ladder' proposed by Walt Whitman Rostow in The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. (1961:4) The first premise of modernisation theory reflected by 'development ladder' is that development happened in a sequential process through stage by stage while the second premise underpinned by ‘development ladder’ is conformity towards West's values and norms. However, these two premises are found to be problematic as they are neglecting the differences in societies and assuming that the 'development ladder' system is applicable to all societies. Thus, Rostow's 'development ladder' is highly challenged as it gathers a lot of critiques.
Turkish State and Turkish Society give great importance to the education since the Turkish Republic was established in 1923. The fall of Ottoman Empire at the end of the first world war and the foundation of the republic after the successful conclusion of the war of independence are two important factors which have made the existence of the new Turkish Society possible. The great desire of this society which is adopted in the social and economic fields to the general life conditions of western civilisations is to work for the benefit of mankind while enjoying all the privileges of civilised life within the family of Nations. In order to reach this goal, it has above all been necessary to establish an educational system in all its stages in such a way as to diffuse its light to all classes of the population.
Modernization is the term used for the transition from the traditional society of the past to modern society as it is found today in the West. Modernization theory refers to a variety of non-Marxist perspectives which have been put forward to explain the development or underdevelopment of countries. Modernization theory is a model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of differing levels of technological development among societies. Modernization theory presents the idea that by introducing modern methods in "technology, agricultural production for trade, and industrialization dependent on a mobile labour force," the underdeveloped countries will experience a strengthening in their economies. Modernization theory offers an account of the common features of the process of development drawing on the analysis of Durkheim and Weber. Development implies the bridging of these gaps by an imitative process, occurring in stages, such that traditional sectors and/or countries gradually assume the qualities of the 'modern' western countries. There are many proponents of Modernization Theory, such as, Walter Rostow, W.A. Lewis, Talcott Parsons, and Daniel Lerner, however the theory has it's roots in the ideas of Durkheim and Weber. The proponents of the modernization theory all felt that the rest of the world needed to look to the Western model of modernity and pattern their society like the West in order to progress. Modernization theory was developed as an alternative to the Marxist account of social development. Modernization Theory Divides the World into two kinds of societies: "modern" and "traditional." Traditional societies are backward looking : Dominated by religious a...