Call for Chapters
Edited Volume Tentative Title:
Afghanistan After 2021: Beyond the Framing of Crisis and Emergency
Afghanistan has undergone a significant political transformation following the collapse of the country's Islamic Republic regime and the Taliban's return to power in August 2021. With a population of over 40 million people, Afghanistan has once again been cast as a theatre of crises and emergency interventions, characterised by humanitarian, political, and socioeconomic challenges, as well as risks to regional and international stability. While such framings might have been needed at times, they can lead to an overreliance on a 'crisis management' approach, obscuring the country's complex and historically rooted social, political, and economic realities.
This edited volume invites critical reflections that draw not only on evidence-based analysis but also on Afghanistan's historical, structural, and regional continuities and disruptions. The aim is to situate Afghanistan and its people within the enduring patterns that have shaped the country and its neighbourhood, and to reconsider how past experiences (local, national, and transnational) – among other elements – can help offer practical solutions, illuminating our understanding of Afghanistan. Furthermore, the edited volume will centre on identifying viable entry points for building longterm peace and the prevention of yet another cycle of war and violence in the country.
Contributions are encouraged to situate Afghanistan's post-2021 realities within broader historical, regional, and thematic contexts, including but not limited to:
State formation, theorising of governance and state
Institutional resilience and building functioning institutions
Social transformations (including Islam and religious actors), dynamics of the social contract
Migration, internal displacement, and population movement/mobility across time and borders
Local agency, development, and the realm of ideas, including on gender
Shifting regional geopolitics and patterns of cooperation and/or conflict
The role of international organisations and global policy frameworks
Historical cycles of intervention, withdrawal, and Afghan adaptation
This volume welcomes submissions from scholars, researchers (including early career researchers), policy experts, practitioners, and graduate students. We especially welcome submissions by those with field-based experience or origins in Afghanistan and the broader Global South.
Submission Guidelines:
Abstracts should be received by 31 July 2025. Please send abstracts to:
Further details about the word limit and engagement opportunities after the final publication will be shared with contributors of successful submissions.