Policy coherence and managing implementation - The case Afghanistan

Sammanfattning: During the past decade the debate on aid has been an area of criticism because of its supposed ineffectiveness. The mixture of development-, security- and conflict solution questions becomes more evident as civil servants, military and NGOs interact in the same territory. This poses the challenge of policies to be coherent. Since it has been argued that policy coherence has attracted small attention by academics it is time to put the issue on the agenda also hoping to contribute with ?how-to? issues. The primary research supporting this paper is semi-structured interviews with a range of senior and mid-level officials from main stakeholders in international humanitarian response. This thesis analyses the political implications of core traditional humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality in a context where boarders between humanitarian and political-military action has become blurry. Based on a case study this thesis shows aid in change and explores policy coherence of aid in conflict/crisis situations. Coordination of response could theoretically improve effectiveness. The backside of it is that coordination itself has become an end where new clusters structures multiplied existing platforms of dialogue instead of simplifying. Afghanistan substantiates the diligence and validity of these apprehensions and issues.