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It is widely assumed that development aid can help to stabilize regions in or after conflict. However, we lack empirical evidence for this assumption, and the assumed causal mechanisms are poorly specified. We conduct a micro-level longitudinal study of eighty communities in North East Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009 and investigate the impact of aid on (perceived) security. We also investigate two possible causal mechanisms, which may link aid to security: whether aid has an impact on attitudes towards international civilian and military actors ('hearts and minds') and whether aid can help to increase the legitimacy of the state ('state reach'). While we find that aid does neither increase perceived security nor foster more positive attitudes towards international actors, we find that aid as a positive impact on state legitimacy.

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This paper contributes to an empirical understanding of state formation. Based on an original household-level data set, we provide a detailed picture of the process of state formation in Afghanistan over the last decade. State formation happens when state and society engage in reciprocal relations. Central to this relationship is an exchange of services for the acceptance of authority and increased legitimacy. Our data allows us to assess state-society relations across different dimensions. We focus on the provision of services, on the responsiveness of the state, on conflict regulation and on taxation. In result we find more evidence of state formation than expected but also see this as a contested process that unfolds unevenly and with different speed across different sectors.

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