This policy paper was produced under the 2005-06 International Policy Fellowship program.

The hypothesis of this project was that there is another governance structure established in the country by religious institutions that is very closely positioned at the village level Therefore, it was the objective of this research to find out if the existence of such a secondary structure can create resistance against governance reform projects in the country.

In order to assess the interaction of the two governance systems in the country the researcher and his advisors focused on a comparative study of the role that Community Development Councils (CDCs) play in the socio- political life of a village versus that of a mosque.

Ahmed Idrees Rahmani was a member of the International Policy Fellowship Program, which was directed by Pamela Kilpadi.  He was advised on this project by Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, and Prof. Barnett Rubin. The views contained in this study remain solely those of the author who may be contacted at idrees9@gmail.com or rahmani@policy.hu.

For a fuller account of this policy research project, please read the paper at Ahmad Idrees Rahmani’s PRGS website.