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Introduction: Nation-building and the failure of institutional memory / Francis Fukuyama -- From consensus to crisis : the postwar career of nation-building in U.S. foreign relations / David Ekbladh -- Nation-building in the heyday of the classic development ideology : Ford Foundation experience in the 1950s and 1960s / Francis X. Sutton -- Building nations : the American experience / Minxin Pei, Samia Amin, and Seth Garz -- Nation-building : lessons learned and unlearned / Michèle A. Flournoy -- Sovereignty and legitimacy in Afghan nation-building / S. Frederick Starr -- Rebuilding Afghanistan : impediments, lessons, and prospects / Marvin G. Weinbaum -- The lessons of nation-building in Afghanistan / Larry P. Goodson -- What went wrong and right in Iraq / Larry Diamond -- Striking out in Baghdad : how postconflict reconstruction went awry / Johanna Mendelson Forman -- Learning the lessons of Iraq / James Dobbins -- Guidelines for future nation-builders / Francis Fukuyama.

In the wake of the Iraq War, what lies ahead for the United Nations as peacekeeper and nation-builder? What lessons were learnt in Afghanistan and Iraq, what reforms could they entail, how do UN efforts fare as compared with those of the United States, and what will be, in the next decade, the most pressing challenges confronting the Organization? Will the United Nations, in its current form and within the new global power structure, be able to remain relevant, retain its ideals and still respond meaningfully to mounting international tensions? These were some of the questions tackled by a group of eminent scholars and practitioners, many directly and personally involved with multilateral or unilateral peace operations. In addition to the larger issues of peacekeeping and peace-building and the recommendations for historical reform suggested by the 'UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change' in December 2004, the group debated some of the most complex recent interventions, including Afghanistan, East Timor and Iraq. This volume, which contains all the presentations and discussions of the UNITAR/IPS Conference on "United Nations as a Peacekeeper and Nation-Builder: Continuity and Change - What Lies Ahead?" will be a valuable addition to the collections of experts or laypersons interested in the future role of the United Nations in general and in peacekeeping and post-conflict state-building in particular

This article pursues two aims. On the empirical level, it challenges the view of Belarus as a 'denationalised', or 'failed' nation, and exposes the country as an area of intensive nation-building. The article demonstrates that, unlike most post-communist states, two versions of national identity have been advanced in Belarus since 1989, with divergent results for their proponents. On the theoretical level, such an atypical experience places qualifications on the instrumentalist approach, that regards nation-building as a political tool. The analysis of identity creation in Belarus suggests that nation-building as a political strategy may be limited by the existing attitudes in the society in question, the socio-economic structures, as well as by the influence of foreign actors. (Nations and Nationalism,ECMI)

In a world with at least three times as many nations as states what are the limits of legitimate nation-building? How can national self-determination be coordinated within a federal system? Wayne Norman provides discussions on the ethics of nation-building and the nature and justification of federal systems

Shipping list no.: 2006-0171-P. ; Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche. ; Includes bibliographical references. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Although the geographical, technological and economic aspects of the South African nation have a reasonably stable basis, the socio-cultural aspect is not only contested, but has since 1994 led to new movements and public debates regarding the recognition of the position of some categories/minorities and their rights in the newly-created democratic dispensation. It would not be correct to assume that all these 'new' movements and voices are of a centrifugal nature and therefore indicative of potentially separatist tendencies. Whereas most of the evolution and history of 'Afrikaans' stemmed from its proponents' opposition to the imposition of English and its imperialist backing, the current debate is about Afrikaans being displaced and relegated to a lowly position by an Englishspeaking black-majority government. Surveying the nature and context of this public debate on the 'position of Afrikaans' will broaden the understanding of contemporary 'nation building' in South Africa. Again, social scientists could endeavour to comprehend culture 'in the making' as created by some of the 'imaginative' Afrikaans-speaking participants and the implications of this discourse for nation building and competition.

This chapter shows how nationalism logically leads regional governments to seek international agency. The first section argues that paradiplomacy is a likely consequence of the existence of a strong nationalist movement because it prodvides opportunities for identity/nation building, political-territorial mobilization and the promotion of regional interests.The second section suggests that regional autonomy, constitutional frameworks and the national foreign policy agenda are the crucial elements of this domestic context. The third section examines the case of the Basque Country. ; Peer reviewed