Nation-building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a nation using the power of the state, especially a foreign one. This process aims at the unification of the people or peoples within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. Nation-building can involve the use of propaganda or major infrastructure development to foster social harmony and economic growth.
Originally, nation-building referred to the efforts of newly-independent nations, notably the nations of Africa, to mould what had been colonial territories, carved up by colonial powers without regard to ethnic or other boundaries, into viable and coherent national entities. Nation-building included the creation of superficial national paraphernalia such as flags, anthems, national days, national stadiums, national airlines, national languages, and national myths. At a deeper level, national identity needed to be deliberately constructed by moulding different groups into a nation, especially since colonialism had used divide and rule tactics to maintain its domination.
One of the most successful nation-building efforts has been in Singapore, where it has a mixture of Chinese, south Indian, Malay, Eurasian and other races.
However, many new states were plagued by what Westerners describe as "tribalism", rivalry between ethnic groups within the nation. This sometimes resulted in their near-disintegration, such as the attempt by Biafra to secede from Nigeria in 1970. In Asia, the disintegration of Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh is another example where ethnic differences, aided by geographic distance, tore apart a post-colonial state. The Rwandan genocide and recurrent problems experienced by the Sudan can also be related to a lack of ethnic, religious, or racial cohesion within the nation. It has often proved difficult to unite states with similar ethnic but different colonial backgrounds. Whereas successful examples like Cameroon do exist, failures like Senegambia Confederation demonstrate the problems of uniting Francophone and Anglophone territories.
More recently, nation-building has come to be used in a completely different context, with reference to what has been succinctly described by its proponenst as "the use of armed force in the aftermath of a conflict to underpin an enduring transition to democracy."
