

edited by Francis Fukuyama
Bestselling author Francis Fukuyama brings together esteemed academics, political analysts, and practitioners to reflect on the U.S. experience with nation-building, from its historical underpinnings to its modern-day consequences. The United States has sought on repeated occasions to reconstruct states damaged by conflict, from Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War to Japan and Germany after World War II, to the ongoing rebuilding of Iraq. Despite this rich experience, there has been remarkably little systematic effort to learn lessons on how outside powers can assist in the...
Bestselling author Francis Fukuyama brings together esteemed academics, political analysts, and practitioners to reflect on the U.S. experience with nation-building, from its historical underpinnings to its modern-day consequences. The United States has sought on repeated occasions to reconstruct states damaged by conflict, from Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War to Japan and Germany after World War II, to the ongoing rebuilding of Iraq. Despite this rich experience, there has been remarkably little systematic effort to learn lessons on how outside powers can assist in the building of strong and self-sufficient states in post-conflict situations.
The contributors dissect mistakes, false starts, and lessons learned from the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq within the broader context of reconstruction efforts in other parts of the world, including Latin America, Japan, and the Balkans. Examining the contrasting models in Afghanistan and Iraq, they highlight the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq as a cautionary example of inadequate planning.
The need for post-conflict reconstruction will not cease with the end of the Afghanistan and Iraq missions. This timely volume offers the critical reflection and evaluation necessary to avoid repeating costly mistakes in the future.
Contributors: Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution and Stanford University; James Dobbins, RAND; David Ekbladh, American University; Michèle A. Flournoy, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Francis Fukuyama, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Larry P. Goodson, U.S. Army War College; Johanna Mendelson Forman, UN Foundation; Minxin Pei, Samia Amin, and Seth Garz, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; S. Frederick Starr, Central Asia–Caucacus Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; F. X. Sutton, Ford Foundation Emeritus; Marvin G. Weinbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
A valuable resource filled with critical reflection and evaluation and offering valuable suggestions to reduce future mistakes... a sober testimony and very highly recommended.
This is an important collection, indeed, offering a clear analysis of the lessons of the past, mistakes made in the present, and humane yet pragmatic recommendations for the future.
A significant contribution to the very young literature about America's experience in nation-building.
Ackowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Nation-Building and the Failure of Institutional Memory
Part I. The Historical Experience of Nation-Building
1. From Consensus to Crisis: The Postwar
Ackowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Nation-Building and the Failure of Institutional Memory
Part I. The Historical Experience of Nation-Building
1. From Consensus to Crisis: The Postwar Career of Nation-Building in U.S. Foreign Reltions
2. Nation-Building in the Heydey of the Classic Development Ideology: Ford Founation Experience in the 1950s and 1960s
3. Bulding Nations: The American Experience
4. Nation-Building: Lessons Learned and Unlearned
Part II. Afghanistan
5. Sovereignty and Legitimacy in Afghan Nation-Building
6. Rebuilding Afghanistan: Impediments, Loessons, and Prospects
7. The Lessons of Nation-Building in Afghanistan
Part III. Iraq
8. What Went Wring and Right in Iraq
9. Striking Out in Baghdad: How Postconflict Reconstruction Went Awry
10. Learning the Lessons of Iraq
Conclusion: Guidelines for Future Nation-Builders
Contributors
Index
with Hopkins Press Books