Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan — IR TALKS 14

Date: 22 September 2026, 17:20—18:50 

Place: C.204 

Language of the event: English 

The talk introduces Routledge (2026), a book recently published which examines how Provincial Reconstruction Teams sought to stabilize Afghanistan’s provinces by combining security operations with reconstruction and development initiatives during 2002–2015. Drawing on extensive academic and policy literature, as well as interviews with practitioners and officials from NATO member states, the work to be discussed reveals how each nation adapted the security-development nexus to its own priorities, with varying results.  

The book bridges theory and practice, showing how development strategies often faltered in high-risk environments and how rigid military structures struggled to support civilian goals. It also proposes a new analytical framework embedded in the theoretical manifestation of the security-development nexus for studying civil–military missions, offering lessons that remain vital for today’s peacebuilding and crisis management operations. Through rich case studies and clear insights, the book ultimately challenges one-size-fits-all approaches to reconstruction and demonstrates why understanding the balance between security and development is key to rebuilding societies after conflict. 

The talk will be moderated by Péter Marton, Associate Professor of Corvinus, the Department of International Relations. 

Zdeněk Rod is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Security Studies at CEVRO University (Prague), as well as in the Department of International and Diplomatic Studies, Faculty of International Relations, Prague University of Economics and Business. He also serves as Co-Director of the Center for Security Consulting and is Visiting Researcher at the John Lukacs Institute for Strategy and Politics at Ludovika University of Public Service in Budapest, Hungary. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen in 2024. 

IR TALKS is a series of guest and roundtable talks organised by the Department of International Relations at Corvinus University of Budapest to make sense of the world we live in at a time of turbulent international politics.