Kambaiz Rafi

Dr Kambaiz Rafi is a non-resident research fellow at the University of Central Asia. He was a teaching fellow in comparative politics of development at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University. His research has focused on the political economy of development and institutions in a conflict-affected (or post-conflict) context. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts, his doctoral work investigated institutions and socially-contingent practical knowledge in relation to secondary sector investments in a conflict-affected market economy.

Previously he held a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (Economic and Social Research Council), hosted at the department of development studies, SOAS University of London. He has a doctorate from UCL (University College London) in development policy, masters in international political economy from King’s College London and undergraduate in Economics from Pune University. He has been a fellow of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (a think-tank based in Kabul, Afghanistan), worked as advisor of the minister of economy of the Republic of Afghanistan on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and has experience working in think-tanks and international organizations. Kambaiz has published peer-reviewed and media articles and a monograph based on his doctoral findings.

Research Interests

Political Economy of Development
Economic resource allocation
Institutions
Publications
Book

Rafi, Kambaiz (2022) Patriarchal Hierarchy; Market Capitalism and Production in Afghanistan. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan
Journal Articles

Rafi, K. (2025). Ograyi and Bourdieusian social capital in Afghanistan’s manufacturing sector. Third World Quarterly, 46(16): 2178 – 2199

Rafi, K. (2024). Minimalist economic management, deferred revenue regime and aid dependency: explaining contradictory post-war statebuilding aims. Global Policy Journal, 15(5): 869-885

(2018) ICT in development; a contextual approach, Indian Journal of Human Development, 12(3): 453-461

(2015) The Afghan insurgency and the uncertainty of peace negotiations, Journal of Perspectives on Terrorism, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zürich, 9(5): 69-72
Policy Papers

(2018) Afghanistan Sustainable Development Goals Vision 2021-2030, Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan, Government of Afghanistan
Think Tank Papers

(2021) Will China replace the US in Afghanistan? Royal United Services Institute, London, UK, October 14
(2020) Afghanistan in need of systemic reforms to avoid election stand-offs, Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan, March 14
(2019) Production during times of instability, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Kabul, Afghanistan, June 11
(2014) To defeat or contain the Islamic State, EastWest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA, November 5
(2014) The aftermath of the Kabul Unity Government, EastWest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA, October 10