Term Paper on "Nation Building"

Term Paper 12 pages (4801 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Nation Building as such refers to the process by which a nation is structured or constructed by utilizing the power of the state. It is an important process that involves the people of the state, with the innate purpose of making sure that the "state remains feasible and viable and also stays politically stable, in the long run." (Nation Building: Wikipedia) Nation Building can use either propaganda or publicity to promote the desired results, or it may use major infrastructure development to promote and foster harmony and stability in the political process, so that social harmony, as well as economic growth is achieved. (Nation Building: Wikipedia) It must be noted that originally, nation building as such was used by countries such as Africa. This was because of the fact that it had been a colonial territory, and as a result, it had been carved up by the colonization, with a blatant disregard to ethnic and other types of boundaries, so that there was no real national boundary or character to the nation, therefore, when nation building as an exercise was undertaken, it was then that Africa could be molded into a viable and a consistent national entity. (Nation Building: Wikipedia)

In Africa, the process of nation building included the construction of relevant 'national paraphernalia' such as flags, anthems, national days, national languages, national stadiums, national airport, and many other such things, so that the people of the country would have a real national identity. However, at a deeper and more intrinsic level, Africa needed to create and build up a national identity, that is, in other words, it needed to mould the several different ethnic groups in existence in Africa, into one nation, and this was especially needed because of the fact that colonialism had relied on the basic method of the 'divide and rule policy' to maintain its domination over the land and its peoples. (Nation Building: Wikipedia)

Today, 'nation building' has been used in an entirely different context, wherein the 'use of armed forces' to ensure that in the time after a major conflict, the transition to 'democracy' becomes more important than anything else has become a predominating factor in the process of nation building, especially by the United States, after the conflict in Iraq. (Nation Building: Wikipedia) It must be mentioned that the United States had undertaken earlier efforts at nation building, using methods described above, in Japan. It is generally stated that these efforts were quite successful, especially when it is compared to similar efforts undertaken in Germany after the Second World War. The transformation in Japan was infinitely smoother, and also much quicker than in Germany, although at the end, Japan was indeed less integrated with its neighbors. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003)

This undertaking by the United States offered certain valuable lessons to the entire world, some of them being: it is a fact that democracy can indeed be transferred and inculcated into non-Western societies. In addition, the manner in which the responsibility for the war was assigned will eventually make a significant difference in the internal political dynamics and in the maintenance of external relations of that country with others, in the next several years to come. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003) It was also found that co-opting existing institutions would make the process of nation building much easier, than attempting to build new ones right form the scratch, and in the same manner, unilateral nation building efforts would be much easier than multilateral nation building efforts. Most importantly it was found that when the innate power to make economic policy decisions were to be given as a sole responsibility to one single entity, then the economic recovery of the nation would not only be much quicker, but also much more effective. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003)

Therefore, this meant that when the power to make economic decisions were to be delegated to the local governing elites, who would, more often than not, have their own priorities, it would, in the long run, serve to dilute and minimize the effectiveness of the changes being brought in as a result of the nation building efforts. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003) Certain idealistic reforms, designed for the long-term improvement and benefit of the nation, must at times, perforce give way to short-term and certain immediate and urgent global concerns of the occupying power. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003)

In Germany, the attempts at democratization undertaken by the United States of America after the conclusion of the Second World War was not a very difficult undertaking, because of the fact that Germany had already had experience in the tenets of democracy. In addition, it was surrounded on all three sides by true democracies, Germany's neighbors, and this meant that Germany's integration into the dense network of democratically based international institutions, such as, for example, the NATO, and the European Coal and Steel Community, was quite inordinately simple and uncomplicated. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003) It must be noted that Japan did not have these same opportunities, but despite this fact, Japan was quite rapidly transformed into a democracy, perhaps due to the intense nation building efforts that were undertaken by the U.S.A., which had made the important decision to co-opt Japanese institutions, and also the unilateral process of nation building. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003)

First and foremost, the occupation authorities of the U.S.A. made the major decision of both retaining as well as adapting existing Japanese Institutions, and take on the role of supervisors, perhaps because of their basic lack of knowledge of the Japanese language, and also because of a lack of technical capabilities. Therefore, in this manner, the U.S.A. made complete use of the existing political and bureaucratic apparatus, without having to resort to building them right form scratch. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003) In certain relevant areas, like for example, in the Japanese Constitution, the Japanese Police Department, and other important areas, the United States did undertake efforts to change and modify them. Eventually, the U.S. occupation was managed through a completely and fully articulated Japanese Government, which consisted of a wide range of personalities, including the Prime Minister, the Emperor, the Courts, the Ministries, and the Parliaments. In comparison to German occupation, all these various institutions had to be abolished, and then rebuilt, right from scratch. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003)

In Japan, as stated earlier, the basic occupation authority was concentrated on one single nation, and indeed, one single individual, Douglas MacArthur. This meant that this person did not need to consult with other countries in his nation building activities, whereas in Germany, it was entirely different, and furthermore, the two most important international bodies for oversight and for consultation, namely the 'Far Eastern Commission', and the 'ACJ', had little or no impact on the entire process. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003) Unilateralism also helped the United States in concentrating all its energies and resources in the overall reconstruction efforts and to expend less energy in trying to forge a consensus between the partners, as it happened in Germany. (Dobbins; McGinn; Crane; Jones; Lal; Rathmell; Swanger; Timilsina, 2003)

It was immediately after the Second World War that the United States of America undertook its nation building efforts in Germany and in Japan, with quite different results. However, it must be noted that the United States did inordinately succeed in helping to rebuild both these defeated nations into new democracies. This rebuilding did not happen without expense, however, and the entire effort took more than a few billion U.S. dollars. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) As a matter of fact, these two nation building efforts are often recognized as the two very important and very successful stories in nation building, anywhere in the world. What became evident was that democracy could indeed be brought in to nations that had absolutely no connection or relationship with democracy as such and that these efforts can indeed be undertaken, and excellent results can be expected. Recently, however, the U.S.A. has undertaken nation building efforts in Iraq, and there are two important reports on this matter, and what exactly America can hope to establish in Iraq. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq)

One is a policy paper written by two important researchers from the 'Carnegie Endowment for International Peace', entitled 'Lessons from the Past: The American Record on Nation Building', brought out in the year 2003, and the other is the book by the Rand Corporation, one of the most important think tanks of the U.S.A., entitled 'America's Role in Nation-Building, from Germany to Iraq', also released in 2003. (U.S. Involvement in Nation Building before Iraq) These two reports were in complete agreement that each and every involvement by the United States… READ MORE

How to Reference "Nation Building" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Post-Conflict, Peace / Nation Building in Iraq and Afghanistan Term Paper

Post-Conflict, Peace/Nation Building in Iraq and Afghanistan

Somehow, within a forty year span of time, the United States has found itself ensnared in multiple wars in Asia at the same… read more

Term Paper 20 pages (7605 words) Sources: 20 Topic: Government / Politics

---

Slavery, Freedom and Nation-Building the Intersecting Roles Essay

Slavery, Freedom & Nation-Building

The Intersecting Roles of Slavery, Freedom and Nation-Building in 18th Century American Society in the Boisterous Sea of Liberty by D. Davis and S. Mintz

The… read more

Essay 3 pages (769 words) Sources: 1 Style: APA Topic: Government / Politics

---

Nationalism National Building Process of Belgium Flemish Term Paper

Nationalism / National Building Process of Belgium

Flemish

Scientific research regarding nationalism gave a lot of theories, more or less disputed, that evolved and were improved in time. M. Crawford… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (1865 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Government / Politics

---

Building Partnership Capacity and Logistics Essay

Building Partnership Capacity and Logistics

How logistics build partnership capacity

Programs of Building Partner Capacity (BPC) consist of programs for security and cooperation assistance financed by the U.S. government. These… read more

Essay 3 pages (1072 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

How Is Nation Building Depicted in Yakup Kadri's the Alien? Essay

Yakup Kadri's Yaban and the Depiction of Nation-Building in Turkey

Yakup Kadri Karaomerlio-lu's novel, Yaban, is considered a modern classic by the people of Turkey and international observers of the… read more

Essay 6 pages (1719 words) Sources: 6 Topic: World History

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>