Arab Israeli Conflict - 4
Tamar Abramson
Nation Building
Nation building is a flawed art, a method that greatly fails. According to Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at Oxford University, “40 percent of all post-conflict situations, historically, have reverted back to conflict within a decade. In fact they’ve accounted for half of all civil wars.”[1] Although there are many reasons as to why nation building fails so often, the focus is what can be done to increase its success rate? What nation building needs in order to work successfully can be said it one word, organization. Organization is the key to the process of nation building and without it, the venture is sure to end up in failure. Before engaging in nation building in a country in a post-conflict situation, the nation-builder must have clear goals set in a stable plan. Nation building, as we know it, is largely a failure. People just don’t seem to be aware of “how infrequently post-conflict nation-building has succeeded”[2] and that more often than not it has failed at creating stable societies, and instead reverted to conflict. A reason why nation building has failed so often is simply that the nation builder does not have a central plan. As stated by John Montgomery and Dennis Rondinelli in their article, The Proverbs of Nation Building, nation builders are far more likely to achieve their social and political purposes if they recognize their long-term goals in official statements “rather than lurking in the obscurity of a hidden agenda”.[3] This concept can be seen in numerous cases of nation building, such as Somalia: The United Nations and United States entered Somalia unprepared and as a result, “what began as a humanitarian mission to feed people starved by rival warlords became a misguided attempt at ad hoc nation building”.[4]
Having a plan means that the nation builders know what they’re doing; unfortunately this is rarely the case. Interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq prove “how haphazard and unfocused nation
Nation Building
Nation building is a flawed art, a method that greatly fails. According to Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at Oxford University, “40 percent of all post-conflict situations, historically, have reverted back to conflict within a decade. In fact they’ve accounted for half of all civil wars.”[1] Although there are many reasons as to why nation building fails so often, the focus is what can be done to increase its success rate? What nation building needs in order to work successfully can be said it one word, organization. Organization is the key to the process of nation building and without it, the venture is sure to end up in failure. Before engaging in nation building in a country in a post-conflict situation, the nation-builder must have clear goals set in a stable plan. Nation building, as we know it, is largely a failure. People just don’t seem to be aware of “how infrequently post-conflict nation-building has succeeded”[2] and that more often than not it has failed at creating stable societies, and instead reverted to conflict. A reason why nation building has failed so often is simply that the nation builder does not have a central plan. As stated by John Montgomery and Dennis Rondinelli in their article, The Proverbs of Nation Building, nation builders are far more likely to achieve their social and political purposes if they recognize their long-term goals in official statements “rather than lurking in the obscurity of a hidden agenda”.[3] This concept can be seen in numerous cases of nation building, such as Somalia: The United Nations and United States entered Somalia unprepared and as a result, “what began as a humanitarian mission to feed people starved by rival warlords became a misguided attempt at ad hoc nation building”.[4]
Having a plan means that the nation builders know what they’re doing; unfortunately this is rarely the case. Interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq prove “how haphazard and unfocused nation
Bibliography: 1. Collier, P. 2009. TED Talks. Paul Collier 's new rules for rebuilding a broken nation. http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_collier_s_new_rules_for_rebuilding_a_broken_nation.html?c=58855 (Accessed November 15,2011) 2 3. Ottaway, Marina. 2002. Nation Building. Foreign Policy. September-October: 16+ 4 5. Cantwell, J.L. 2007. Nation-Building: A Joint Enterprise. Parameters. Volume: 37 No. 3. Page numbers 54+ 6 [2] Montgomery, J.D. and Rondinelli, D.A. 2004. Proverbs of Nation-Building. Harvard International Review. Volume 26, Issue 2. Pg. number 26+ [3] Montgomery & Rondinelli, Proverbs of Nation-Building. [4] Ottaway, Marina. 2002. Nation Building. Foreign Policy. September-October: 16+ (Page on Moodle, 1) [5] Payne [18] Quagmire: Nation-Building Comes at a High Cost, and with No Guarantees of Success. The Christina Century. Volume: 120 No. 19. 2003. September: 5 (Pg. number on Moodle: 1)