Traditionalism and Demodernisation

Abstract

With the beginning of a partial modernisation in Afghanistan in the late 19th century there emerged a pattern of opposition to this process. Often described as traditionalism it aimed not only at the maintaining of the status quo but had a demodernising twist seeking the establishment of an alternative socio-political order pursuing demodernisation dressed in traditionalist Islamic or tribal rhetoric but undermining the traditional modus vivendi by introducing political tools and institutions specifically promoting demodernisation. There are three parallel tracks in the development of actors opposing modernisation, viz., the traditionalist ones (tribes and Islamic clerics), conscious demodernisers (Bachah-ye Saqao Emirate in 1929 and the Taliban), and forces of political Islam that fit the modernisation paradigm but deliver on the demodernisation agenda (Islamist political parties cum armed movements of the 1970–1980s). The background of these three modernisation-opposing forces and the time and place specific circumstances of their operational environment explain the particular ideological and political track they were taking. Their alternating use of opposing tribal and Islamic institutions in promoting their agendas adds to the understanding of their peculiarities. Counter-modernisation activities may derive from different premises, where deliberate demodernisation and that as a by-product of modernised political endeavours are of theoretical interest.