Book excerpt: "This book explores whether the legal and political institutions of Afghanistan have been able to incorporate diverse ethnic groups into the political process. Ethnic accommodation has gained central stage in literature on institutional design and democratic consolidation. However, some divided societies are more explored than others and Afghanistan is one that is critically important for our theories of institutional design in a democratizing, plural society. The work examines the constitution and those provisions of electoral laws and political party laws that together have devised Afghan political institutions including those of the presidential system, unitary government, electoral systems as well as the party system. It argues that due to their incongruence in design and effects, the Afghan political institutions have failed to fully accommodate ethnic groups in the political process. It adopts a holistic approach, while also paying careful attention to the details of each of the individual pieces. Taken together, this approach yields insights about the boundaries and interactions of institutional design. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy makers interested in constitutional law and politics"--