Community Participation in Nation Building: Lessons from the U.S. Experience

2015 ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
Michael A. Burayidi ◽  
Craig Maher
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The U.S

Can America Nation-Build?

2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Brownlee
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Antecedent Conditions ◽  
Local Political Institutions ◽  
External Intervention ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Invasion Of Iraq

Post-9/11 security concerns and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq have renewed scholarly interest in nation-building as a form of externally fostered democratization. The selected works assess Iraq and its precursors, seeking general lessons for establishing new democracies. They principally conclude that successful nation-building depends on sustained commitments of time, materiel, and manpower. Although this thesis improves upon earlier studies of democracy promotion, which often treated intentions as determinative, it does not fully reckon with the effect of antecedent conditions on external intervention. As this review addresses, American efforts at nation-building have historically been enabled or constrained by local political institutions. Rather than autonomously reengineering the target society, nation-builders have buttressed bureaucracies and parliaments where they were already available (Germany, Japan) and foundered in countries that lacked such institutions (Somalia, Haiti). In sum, nation-building has been most effective when pursued least ambitiously, amid functioning states with prior experience in constitutional government.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Aaron Sheehan-Dean
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
State Building ◽  
Global View ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Common Problems ◽  
The U.S

In the mid-nineteenth century, a set of wars convulsed India, the U.S., Poland, and China. Although typically studied separately, the wars followed similar patterns and even responded to each other. This influence was felt most fully when powerful nations offered or withheld their support for insurgents, but it also operated in a more subtle fashion. The discussions about sovereignty, authority, and rebellion preoccupying literate observers created a global conversation that shaped the experiences of people engaged in widely different enterprises. Unlike the liberal wars of nation-building in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, these conflicts revolved around common problems of sovereignty and state-building. Participants at the time saw these connections and used references and analogies to other conflicts to advance their own interests. This global view restores the U.S. Civil War to its historical place as one of several insurgent challenges in the era.

A Cacophony of Stories

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-50
Author(s):  
Rogers M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The People ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S

Most scholars agree that modern populists tell nationalist stories promising to protect “the people” against malignant elites. They appeal to economic and cultural anxieties stirred by many forms of globalization. They also respond, however, to the multiplicity of competing narratives of political identity that have proliferated globally since the end of the Cold War. These have created a cacophony of identity stories that often heightens the appeal of familiar nationalist ones. Examples are drawn from the three great waves of modern nation-building, including Wisconsin in the U.S. and Ulster-Scots in the U.K.’s Northern Ireland; the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines; and the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Cold War Kidnapping

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-47
Author(s):  
Helen N. Pho
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Development ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
Agency For International Development ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
The U.S

On February 2, 1965, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam kidnapped Gustav Hertz, Chief of Public Administration for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Hertz’s captivity set in motion an intricate series of diplomatic gestures that involved several governments, including those of Algeria, Cambodia, and France, and numerous prominent individuals, such as Senator Robert Kennedy, Cambodian leader Norodom Sihanouk, and Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella, in an effort to win his release. This article examines the Hertz kidnapping to illustrate that South Vietnamese politics heavily influenced and thwarted U.S. nation-building efforts. The case reveals that when perpetuating the impression of South Vietnamese sovereignty conflicted with saving the life of a USAID leader, U.S. officials chose the first objective.

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