Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- PART I The scope and nature of the problem
- 2 Approaching the rule of law
- 3 Deiokes and the Taliban
- PART II The context
- PART III The political economy of opium
- PART IV Afghan approaches to security and the rule of law
- PART V International interventions
- PART VI Kandahar
- PART VII Conclusion
- Index
- References
3 - Deiokes and the Taliban
Local governance, bottom-up state formation and the rule of law in counter-insurgency
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- PART I The scope and nature of the problem
- 2 Approaching the rule of law
- 3 Deiokes and the Taliban
- PART II The context
- PART III The political economy of opium
- PART IV Afghan approaches to security and the rule of law
- PART V International interventions
- PART VI Kandahar
- PART VII Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
Herodotus of Halicarnassus, writing in the fifth century BC in Book 1 of his Histories, gave an account of Deiokes whom he identified as the first king of the Medes:
There was a certain Mede named Deiokes, son of Phraortes, a man of much wisdom, who had conceived the desire of obtaining to himself the sovereign power. In furtherance of his ambition, therefore, he formed and carried into execution the following scheme. As the Medes at that time dwelt in scattered villages without any central authority, and lawlessness in consequence prevailed throughout the land, Deiokes, who was already a man of mark in his own village, applied himself with greater zeal and earnestness than ever before to the practice of justice among his fellows. It was his conviction that justice and injustice are engaged in perpetual war with one another. He therefore began his course of conduct, and presently the men of his village, observing his integrity, chose him to be the arbiter of all their disputes. Bent on obtaining the sovereign power, he showed himself an honest and an upright judge, and by these means gained such credit with his fellow citizens as to attract the attention of those who lived in the surrounding villages. They had long been suffering from unjust and oppressive judgments; so that, when they heard of the singular uprightness of Deiokes, and of the equity of his decisions, they joyfully had recourse to him in the various quarrels and suits that arose, until at last they came to put confidence in no one else.
(Herodotus 1954: 54ff)- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Rule of Law in AfghanistanMissing in Inaction, pp. 35 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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