Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan - by Dana Burde (Paperback)

About the Book

Dana Burde shows how aid to education in Afghanistan bolstered conflict both deliberately in the 1980s through violence-infused, anti-Soviet curricula and inadvertently in the 2000s through misguided stabilization programs

Book Synopsis

Foreign-backed funding for education does not always stabilize a country and enhance its statebuilding efforts. Dana Burde shows how aid to education in Afghanistan bolstered conflict both deliberately in the 1980s through violence-infused, anti-Soviet curricula and inadvertently in the 2000s through misguided stabilization programs. She also reveals how dominant humanitarian models that determine what counts as appropriate aid have limited attention and resources toward education, in some cases fueling programs that undermine their goals.

For education to promote peace in Afghanistan, Burde argues we must expand equal access to quality community-based education and support programs that increase girls' and boys' attendance at school. Referring to a recent U.S. effort that has produced strong results in these areas, Burde commends the program's efficient administration and good quality, and its neutral curriculum, which can reduce conflict and build peace in lasting ways. Drawing on up-to-date research on humanitarian education work amid conflict zones around the world and incorporating insights gleaned from extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Burde recalculates and improves a popular formula for peace.

Review Quotes

Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan lays out a detailed history of education in the Afghan context, its importance, and how educational funds can be effectively used to avoid conflict.... This book is a welcome contribution to the field of both international and comparative education as well as conflict studies.--Mujtaba Hedayet "Comparative Education Review"

[Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan] provides an excellent overview and diverse analysis of the historical emergence of, and currently existing relationship between, education, peace, and conflict within and beyond Afghanistan.-- "South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies"

A significant contribution to the argument for community schools as necessary for sustainable quality education for all in rural Afghanistan.-- "Comparative and International Education"

Dana Burde provides rare insights into the potential for Afghanistan's educational system to advance either political violence or peace.... [Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan] could serve as a foundational text for those who want to understand the issues surrounding education and conflict.--Paul Clemans "H-War"

Dana Burde has both a theoretical grasp of the literature and unprecedented opportunity to observe education aid in Afghanistan. The result is a fascinating analysis that frequently surprises even an experienced reader.--Stephen Heyneman, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University

Public education in conflict-ridden societies should be a force for peace and stability, if done well. But Dana Burde shows that international aid to education in Afghanistan sowed conflict when its political goals prioritized jihad against the Soviet occupation or favored some ethnic groups over others. Impeccably researched, this book has global implications for thinking about politics, education policy, and foreign aid.--Jack Snyder, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies and Department of Political Science, Columbia University

This masterly book offers the first comprehensive fieldwork-based research on education in contemporary Afghanistan. Dana Burde makes the convincing case that NGOs have generally been neglecting education and that jihadist programs in the 1980s implied a huge exposure of children to the message of violence and intolerance. Post-2001, Burde points to the general failure of the counterinsurgency strategy to provide adequate support to education.--Gilles Dorronsoro, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

About the Author

Dana Burde is associate professor and director of international education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, and is affiliated faculty with the NYU's Wilf Family Department of Politics and Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. She is also an adjunct research scholar in the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.