Cohesive parties are bad for Afghanistan

MA in Democracy and Governance alum Jack Santucci weighs in against donor consensus that Afghanistan needs more cohesive political parties at the Democratic Piece:

I wonder whether the ’strong’ parties that might result from more party-centric electoral rules would be all that great. If, for example, closed-list PR turns divided societies’ elections into “national identity referenda,”would programmatic coherence and party discipline be such great ideas?

I agree completely. A more cohesive party system is only likely to sharpen ethnic tension in Afghanistan. The country has enough problems already. Weak parties are probably an asset.