Shining a Light on Afghanistan: International involvement and solar power’s role in changing the socio-technical regime for electricity in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2019

Sammanfattning: This thesis explores the increased electricity access between 2003 and 2019 in Afghanistan by employing two main explanatory variables – solar power and international involvement. The models are based on logistic regressions, investigating urban and rural areas, as well as a sample of the whole population. The data is survey data collected annually, by the Asia Foundation, throughout the country. Moreover, the thesis reinforces the literary link between electricity and development through human capital metrics, and several strands for future research are outlined. International Involvement and solar power have significant associations with electrical access, but the odds ratios differ according to various geographic, policy, and accessibility-related factors. In rural areas, individuals have a significant and robust association, in terms of access, between electrical access and solar power, making rural residents with solar power the most likely demographic to have electricity. International involvement, through development projects, also has a positive and significant association with electrical access in rural areas. However, it is more robust in urban areas than rural areas through foreign partnerships with national institutions and the Afghan governmental, ministerial, and state-utility policies and practices. This thesis contributes to research by shedding light on the transition in a country, which lacks some features, such as a stable government, seen as imperative to renewable transitions and electrification. Afghanistan can serve as a blueprint for other Least Developed Countries (hereafter LDCSs) by highlighting the differing motivations and processes that can accelerate a transition.