Nation-building and Identity Conflicts

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3658052155
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (58 download)

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Book Synopsis Nation-building and Identity Conflicts by : Ariel Hernandez

Download or read book Nation-building and Identity Conflicts written by Ariel Hernandez and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ending identity conflicts through negotiated agreements is an intractable process that is embedded complexly in the nation-building process. Ariel Hernandez looks on the complexity of the nation-building process in the Philippines and how its social and political context constrains the achievement of a peace agreement that would withhold new challenges as the process unfolds. Mediation as one of the possible modes of intervention to resolve identity conflicts is taken as the self-evident instrument to end the 40 year old conflict between the Filipino society at large and the Bangsamoro. The analysis confirms that mediation and other types of intervention are contributing to the intractability of identity conflicts by bringing in further complexities in the negotiation process. The conceptualization of “stumbling blocks” may provide knowledge based resources to develop strategies to “facilitate” the mediation process that allows negotiating parties to cope with the complexity of the bargaining table.

Identity Conflicts

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Author :
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
ISBN 13 : 141280924X
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (128 download)

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Book Synopsis Identity Conflicts by : J. Craig Jenkins

Download or read book Identity Conflicts written by J. Craig Jenkins and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social conflicts are ubiquitous and inherent in organized social life. This volume examines the origins and regulation of violent identity conflicts. It focuses on the regulation of conflict: the constraining, directing, and repression of violence through institutional rules and understandings. The core question the authors address is how violence is regulated and the social and political consequences of such regulation. The contributors provide a multidisciplinary multi-regional analysis of identity conflicts and their regulation. The chapters focus on the forging and suppression of religious and ethnic identities, problematic national identities, the recreation of identity in post-conflict peace-building efforts, and the forging of collective identities in the process of democratic state building. The instances of violent conflict treated here range across the globe from Central and South America, to Asia, to the Balkans, and to the Islamic world. One of the key findings is that conflicts involving religious, ethnic, or national identity are inherently more violence prone and require distinctive methods of regulation. Identity is a question both of power and of integrity. This means that both material and symbolic needs must be addressed in order to constrain or regulate these conflicts. Accordingly, some chapters draw on a political-economy approach that places primary emphasis on resources, organization, and interests, while others develop a cultural approach focusing on how identities are constructed, grievances defined, blame attributed, and redress articulated. This volume offers new ideas about the regulation of identity conflicts, at both the global and local level, that engage both tradition and modernization. It will be of interest to policymakers, political scientists, human rights activists, historians, and anthropologists.

Resolving Identity-Based Conflict In Nations, Organizations, and Communities

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Author :
Publisher : Jossey-Bass
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Resolving Identity-Based Conflict In Nations, Organizations, and Communities by : Jay Rothman

Download or read book Resolving Identity-Based Conflict In Nations, Organizations, and Communities written by Jay Rothman and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 1997-06-05 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conflict can either destroy or create—depAnding on whether and how it is guided. This is the simple yet profound insight that underlies Jay Rothman's innovative new framework for understanding and transforming identity-based conflict in nations, organizations, and communities. Reading a newspaper, working in an organization, or sitting in on a town meeting can provide vivid examples of identity conflicts in action. Based in the national, organizational, and community groups that provide individuals with meaning, safety, and dignity, identity conflicts are passionate and volatile because they strike at our core: who we really are and what we care about most deeply. Though often impervious to traditional methods of conflict management, identity-based conflict also provides adversaries with dynamic opportunities for finding not only common ground, but higher ground than separate parties could have found on their own. Grounded in his grassroots conflict resolution work in the Middle East — work that earned him the honor of witnessing the historic White House handshake between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO President Yasser Arafat — and brilliantly refined to address a wide range of organizational and community conflicts, Rothman's ARIA model is a versatile and innovative synthesis of the best contemporary ideas in conflict management, resolution, and transformation. Step by step, Resolving Identity-Based Conflict traces the ARIA journey through Antagonism, Resonance, Invention, and Action in a variety of environments. In straightforward, jargon-free language, Rothman conveys solid theoretical insights and practical how-to's that allow researchers and practitioners to: Recognize the crucial differences between identity- and resource-based conflicts Zero in on the needs and motivations shared by even the bitterest of adversaries Create joint agendas for groups in conflict Transform intragroup and intergroup conflicts in organizations of every k

Identity, Citizenship, and Political Conflict in Africa

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Author :
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253011892
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

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Book Synopsis Identity, Citizenship, and Political Conflict in Africa by : Edmond J. Keller

Download or read book Identity, Citizenship, and Political Conflict in Africa written by Edmond J. Keller and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Engaging…detailed with current information about the situation in many African countries.” —African Studies Quarterly Reflecting on the processes of nation-building and citizenship formation in Africa, Edmond J. Keller believes that although some deep parochial identities have eroded, they have not disappeared—and may be more assertive than previously thought, especially in instances of political conflict. Keller reconsiders how national identity has been understood in Africa and presents new approaches to identity politics, intergroup relations, state-society relations, and notions of national citizenship and citizenship rights. Focusing on Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Rwanda, he lays the foundation for a new understanding of political transition in contemporary Africa. “This book would certainly be useful in graduate seminars on African politics, African history or ethnic politics. It is written in a clear, straightforward style that also makes it appropriate for use in advanced undergraduate classes. Keller also offers insights for policymakers and development practitioners who continue to grapple with the real-world consequences of citizenship conflicts.”—Journal of Modern African Studies

Contentious Identities

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136164529
Total Pages : 80 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (361 download)

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Book Synopsis Contentious Identities by : Daniel Chirot

Download or read book Contentious Identities written by Daniel Chirot and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes widespread global ethnic conflicts that tear asunder nations and regions, such as the former Yugoslavia. Dan Chirot casts his analysis in a discussion of the conflict between national and ethnic identity, discovering that ethnic identity, rooted in centuries of tradition and habit, often trumps national identity, which may be of more recent gestation and have a weaker hold on people. His analysis affords insights into the recent aggressive U.S. posture on ‘nation building,’ showing the blindness of this approach to deeply-entrenched ethnic identities. His timely book can be used in classes on globalization, international development, political sociology, social movements, and theory. The goal of this new, unique Series is to offer readable, teachable "thinking frames" on today’s social problems and social issues by leading scholars, all in short 60 page or shorter formats, and available for view on http://routledge.customgateway.com/routledge-social-issues.html For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge Social Issues Collection now offers the best of both worlds: originally written short texts that provide "overviews" to important social issues as well as teachable excerpts from larger works previously published by Routledge and other presses.

State Building and National Identity Reconstruction in the Horn of Africa

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331939892X
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis State Building and National Identity Reconstruction in the Horn of Africa by : Redie Bereketeab

Download or read book State Building and National Identity Reconstruction in the Horn of Africa written by Redie Bereketeab and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines post-secession and post-transition state building in Somaliland, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. It explores two intimately linked, yet analytically distinct themes: state building and national identity reconstruction following secession and collapse. In Somaliland and South Sudan, rearranging the state requires a complete metamorphosis of state institutions so that they respond to the needs and interests of the people. In Sudan and Somalia, the reconfiguration of the remains of the state must address a new reality and demands on the ground. All four cases examined, although highly variable, involve conflict. Conflict defines the scope, depth and momentum of the state building and state reconstruction process. It also determines the contours and parameters of the projects to reconstitute national identity and rebuild a nation. Addressing the contested identity formation and its direct relation to state building would therefore go a long way in mitigating conflicts and state crisis.

Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 131531164X
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (153 download)

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Book Synopsis Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste by : Michael Leach

Download or read book Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste written by Michael Leach and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Timor-Leste’s long journey to nationhood spans 450 years of colonial rule by Portugal, a short-lived independence in 1975, and a 24-year occupation by Indonesia. This book examines the history of nation-building and national identity in Timor-Leste, and the evolution of a collective identity through two consecutive colonial occupations, and into the post-independence era. It charts the evolution of the idea of an East Timorese nation: its origins, its sources, and its competitors in traditional understandings of political community, and the distinct colonial visions imposed by Portugal or Indonesia. The author analyses the evolution of ideas of collective identity under the long era of Portuguese colonial rule, and through the 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia from 1975 to 1999. Reflecting the contested history of the territory, these include successive attempts to define its members as colonial subjects in a wider ‘pluri-racial’ Portuguese empire, as citizens in an ‘integrated’ province of the Republic of Indonesia – and, of course, as a nation that demanded its right to self-determination. Finally, the host of nation-building tensions and fault lines that emerged after the restoration of independence in 2002 are discussed. Examining the history of debates and conflict over national identity, national history, cultural heritage, language policy, and relationships between distinct regions, generations, and language groups, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of Asian studies, nationalism studies, and international and community development.

From Mediation to Nation-Building

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Author :
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739176951
Total Pages : 547 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis From Mediation to Nation-Building by : Joseph R. Rudolph

Download or read book From Mediation to Nation-Building written by Joseph R. Rudolph and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-05-16 with total page 547 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eruption in the early 1990s of highly visible humanitarian crises and exceedingly bloody civil wars in the Horn of Africa, imploding Yugoslavia, and Rwanda, set in motion a trend towards third party intervention in communal conflict in areas as far apart as the Balkans and East Timor. However haltingly and selectively, that trend towards extra-systemic means of managing ethnic and national conflict is still discernible, motivated as it was in the 1990s by the inability of in-house accommodation methods to resolve ethno-political conflicts peacefully and the tendency of such conflicts to spill into the international system in the form of massive refugee flows, regional instability, and failed states hosting criminal and terrorist elements. In its various forms, third party intervention has become a fixed part of the current international system Our book examines the various forms in which that intervention occurs, from the least intrusive and costly forms of third party activity to the most intrusive and expensive endeavors. More specifically, organized in the form of overview essays followed by case studies that explore the utility and limitations, successes and failures of various forms of third party activity in managing conflict, the book begins by examining diplomatic intervention and then proceeds to cover, in turn, legal, economic, and military instruments of conflict management before concluding with a section on political tutelage arrangements and nation/capacity building operations. The chapters themselves are authored by a mix of contributors drawn from relevant disciplines, both senior and younger scholars, academics and practitioners, and North Americans and Europeans. All treat a common theme but no attempt was made to solicit work from contributors with a common orientation towards the value of third party intervention. Nor were the authors straight-jacketed with heavy content guidelines from the editors. Their essays validate the value of this approach. Far from being chaotic in nature, they generally supplement one another, while offering opposing viewpoints on the overall topic; for example, our Italian contributor who specializes in non-government organizations offers a chapter illustrating their utility under certain conditions, whereas the chapter from an Afghan practitioner notes the downside of too much reliance on NGOs in nation-building operations. The essays also cover topics not often treated, and are written from the viewpoint of those on the ground. The chapter on creating a police force in post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, reads much like a diary from the American colonel who was sent to Bosnia in early 1996 charged with that task.

Nationalism and Conflict Management

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135708592
Total Pages : 129 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (357 download)

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Book Synopsis Nationalism and Conflict Management by : Eric Taylor Woods

Download or read book Nationalism and Conflict Management written by Eric Taylor Woods and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethno-national conflict is one of the central issues of modern politics. Despite the emergence of approaches to managing it, from nation-building to territorial autonomy, in recent years, the application of these approaches has been uneven. Old conflicts persist and new ones continually emerge. The authors of this book contend that what is needed to drive forward the theory and practice of ethno-national conflict management is a more nuanced understanding of ethnicity and nationalism. The book addresses this issue by linking theories of ethnicity and nationalism to theories of conflict management. Its contributors share a common goal of demonstrating that a nuanced understanding of ethnicity and nationalism can beneficially inform conflict management in theory and practice. To do so, they analyse both hot and cold conflict zones, as well as cases that have been important in the development of the most widely-used conflict management models. The book is aimed at those interested in the theory and practice of ethno-national conflict management as well as the study of ethnicity and nationalism. It is well-suited for undergraduate and advanced research students, experts and policy-makers. This book was originally published as a special issue of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics.

Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1315311631
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (153 download)

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Book Synopsis Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste by : Michael Leach

Download or read book Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste written by Michael Leach and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Timor-Leste’s long journey to nationhood spans 450 years of colonial rule by Portugal, a short-lived independence in 1975, and a 24-year occupation by Indonesia. This book examines the history of nation-building and national identity in Timor-Leste, and the evolution of a collective identity through two consecutive colonial occupations, and into the post-independence era. It charts the evolution of the idea of an East Timorese nation: its origins, its sources, and its competitors in traditional understandings of political community, and the distinct colonial visions imposed by Portugal or Indonesia. The author analyses the evolution of ideas of collective identity under the long era of Portuguese colonial rule, and through the 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia from 1975 to 1999. Reflecting the contested history of the territory, these include successive attempts to define its members as colonial subjects in a wider ‘pluri-racial’ Portuguese empire, as citizens in an ‘integrated’ province of the Republic of Indonesia – and, of course, as a nation that demanded its right to self-determination. Finally, the host of nation-building tensions and fault lines that emerged after the restoration of independence in 2002 are discussed. Examining the history of debates and conflict over national identity, national history, cultural heritage, language policy, and relationships between distinct regions, generations, and language groups, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of Asian studies, nationalism studies, and international and community development.

Identity Conflicts

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351513877
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

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Book Synopsis Identity Conflicts by : Esther Gottlieb

Download or read book Identity Conflicts written by Esther Gottlieb and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social conflicts are ubiquitous and inherent in organized social life. This volume examines the origins and regulation of violent identity conflicts. It focuses on the regulation of conflict: the constraining, directing, and repression of violence through institutional rules and understandings. The core question the authors address is how violence is regulated and the social and political consequences of such regulation. The contributors provide a multidisciplinary multi-regional analysis of identity conflicts and their regulation. The chapters focus on the forging and suppression of religious and ethnic identities, problematic national identities, the recreation of identity in post-conflict peace-building efforts, and the forging of collective identities in the process of democratic state building. The instances of violent conflict treated here range across the globe from Central and South America, to Asia, to the Balkans, and to the Islamic world. One of the key findings is that conflicts involving religious, ethnic, or national identity are inherently more violence prone and require distinctive methods of regulation. Identity is a question both of power and of integrity. This means that both material and symbolic needs must be addressed in order to constrain or regulate these conflicts. Accordingly, some chapters draw on a political-economy approach that places primary emphasis on resources, organization, and interests, while others develop a cultural approach focusing on how identities are constructed, grievances defined, blame attributed, and redress articulated. This volume offers new ideas about the regulation of identity conflicts, at both the global and local level, that engage both tradition and modernization. It will be of interest to policymakers, political scientists, human rights activists, historians, and anthropologists.

Political Symbols and National Identity in Timor-Leste

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319987828
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (199 download)

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Book Synopsis Political Symbols and National Identity in Timor-Leste by : Catherine E. Arthur

Download or read book Political Symbols and National Identity in Timor-Leste written by Catherine E. Arthur and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-09-14 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how national identity has been negotiated and (re)imagined through the political symbols that embody it in post-conflict Timor-Leste. It develops a Modernist approach to nations and nationalism by incorporating Bourdieusian theories of symbolic capital and conflict, to examine how national identity has been constructed and represented in political symbols. Taking case studies of flags, monuments, national heroes, and street art, it critically analyses how a diverse population has interpreted and (re)constructed its national identity throughout the first decade of independence, and how the transition from a context of conflict to peace has influenced such popular imaginings. By examining these processes of identification with a wide range of symbols, the book discusses the numerous challenges that this young nation-state still faces, including victimhood and recognition, democratization and electoral politics, the political role of cosmology and spirituality, and post-colonial generational differences and divisions.

Nation-building as Necessary Effort in Fragile States

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9789462982192
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

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Book Synopsis Nation-building as Necessary Effort in Fragile States by : René Grotenhuis

Download or read book Nation-building as Necessary Effort in Fragile States written by René Grotenhuis and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: René Grotenhuis analyses policies intended to bring stability to fragile states and shows how they ignore the question of what gives people a sense of belonging to a nation-state.

The Politics of Nation-Building

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139619810
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (396 download)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of Nation-Building by : Harris Mylonas

Download or read book The Politics of Nation-Building written by Harris Mylonas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-18 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What drives a state's choice to assimilate, accommodate or exclude ethnic groups within its territory? In this innovative work on the international politics of nation-building, Harris Mylonas argues that a state's nation-building policies toward non-core groups - individuals perceived as an ethnic group by the ruling elite of a state - are influenced by both its foreign policy goals and its relations with the external patrons of these groups. Through a detailed study of the Balkans, Mylonas shows that how a state treats a non-core group within its own borders is determined largely by whether the state's foreign policy is revisionist or cleaves to the international status quo, and whether it is allied or in rivalry with that group's external patrons. Mylonas injects international politics into the study of nation-building, building a bridge between international relations and the comparative politics of ethnicity and nationalism.

History Education in the Formation of Social Identity

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137374764
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (373 download)

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Book Synopsis History Education in the Formation of Social Identity by : K. Korostelina

Download or read book History Education in the Formation of Social Identity written by K. Korostelina and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-12-18 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to determine how history education can be harnessed to reduce conflict attitudes and intentions and create a culture of peace, this book examines how history curricula and textbooks shape the identities of their students through their portrayals of ingroup and outgroup identity, intergroup boundaries, and value systems.

Overcoming Obstacles to Peace

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Author :
Publisher : Rand Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0833078631
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis Overcoming Obstacles to Peace by : James Dobbins

Download or read book Overcoming Obstacles to Peace written by James Dobbins and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2013 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume analyzes the impediments that local conditions pose to successful outcomes of nation-building interventions in conflict-affected areas. Previous RAND studies of nation-building focused on external interveners' activities. This volume shifts the focus to internal circumstances, first identifying the conditions that gave rise to conflicts or threatened to perpetuate them, and then determining how external and local actors were able to modify or work around them to promote enduring peace. It examines in depth six varied societies: Cambodia, El Salvador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, East Timor, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It then analyzes a larger set of 20 major post-Cold War nation-building interventions. The authors assess the risk of renewed conflict at the onset of the interventions and subsequent progress along five dimensions: security, democratization, government effectiveness, economic growth, and human development. They find that transformation of many of the specific conditions that gave rise to or fueled conflict often is not feasible in the time frame of nation-building operations but that such transformation has not proven essential to achieving the primary goal of nation-building -- establishing peace. Most interventions in the past 25 years have led to enduring peace, as well as some degree of improvement in the other dimensions assessed. The findings suggest the importance of setting realistic expectations -- neither expecting nation-building operations to quickly lift countries out of poverty and create liberal democracies, nor being swayed by a negative stereotype of nation-building that does not recognize its signal achievements in the great majority of cases."--Page 4 of cover.

Nation Building

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Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691177384
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis Nation Building by : Andreas Wimmer

Download or read book Nation Building written by Andreas Wimmer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new and comprehensive look at the reasons behind successful or failed nation building Nation Building presents bold new answers to an age-old question. Why is national integration achieved in some diverse countries, while others are destabilized by political inequality between ethnic groups, contentious politics, or even separatism and ethnic war? Traversing centuries and continents from early nineteenth-century Europe and Asia to Africa from the turn of the twenty-first century to today, Andreas Wimmer delves into the slow-moving forces that encourage political alliances to stretch across ethnic divides and build national unity. Using datasets that cover the entire world and three pairs of case studies, Wimmer’s theory of nation building focuses on slow-moving, generational processes: the spread of civil society organizations, linguistic assimilation, and the states’ capacity to provide public goods. Wimmer contrasts Switzerland and Belgium to demonstrate how the early development of voluntary organizations enhanced nation building; he examines Botswana and Somalia to illustrate how providing public goods can bring diverse political constituencies together; and he shows that the differences between China and Russia indicate how a shared linguistic space may help build political alliances across ethnic boundaries. Wimmer then reveals, based on the statistical analysis of large-scale datasets, that these mechanisms are at work around the world and explain nation building better than competing arguments such as democratic governance or colonial legacies. He also shows that when political alliances crosscut ethnic divides and when most ethnic communities are represented at the highest levels of government, the general populace will identify with the nation and its symbols, further deepening national political integration. Offering a long-term historical perspective and global outlook, Nation Building sheds important new light on the challenges of political integration in diverse countries.