Transcript Introduction to International Relations:

Statebuilding
in Afghanistan
and Iraq:
Altruism,
Imperialism, or
Colonialism?
Not entirely new
Some aspects are different…
But the outcomes might not be
Statebuilding in Afghanistan and Iraq:
Altruism?
Imperialism?
Or Colonialism?
State building in Afghanistan and Iraq
I. What’s old about this?
(current events: primary sources)
II. What’s new about “statebuilding”?
(documentaries and feature films)
III. How we got to the Middle East?
(documentaries and feature films)
IV. Do words matter?
(define and debate)
V. Understanding and doing
statebuilding
(reconstruction stimulation; role playing)
VI. Why bother? Is it worth it?
(progress reports on countries; Youtube)
I. What’s old about this:
America’s role

Post-WWII history
 Germany/Japan
 “nationbuilding”

The Cold War
 US-Soviet stalemate

The post-Cold War
 America leads
 “military might”
America’s role:
rebuilding countries… and more
II. What’s new:
The state of statebuilding
Since early 1990s, “statebuilding” has
become centerpiece of “international
efforts” to stabilize violent conflicts
 Statebuilding/peacebuilding: stop
conflict and transform structures that led
to conflict
 “International community” involved in
numerous war-torn/fragile countries

II. What’s new:
The evolution of United Nations

The development
and changes in
the UN

Agenda for Peace
(1992)shift from
peacekeeping to
peace operations

Foreign Affairs
RAND corporation

II. What’s new:
UN & Peacekeeping … and more
II. What’s new:
The EU and “international actors”

EU since 2000:
leading efforts in the
Balkans

Other international
actors: World Bank,
IMF

International
nongovernmental
organizations and
networks
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Recent history and events
1. Demand for international involvement
- Cold War’s end (1989/91)
- Post 9/11 “idealism”
 1989-2000: 111 conflicts, 104 internal conflicts
 1990-1994: 26 deadly conflicts
Robert Kaplan, “Coming Anarchy” (1994)
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Recent history and events
2. The real anarchy
 Former Yugoslavia,
1992-1999
 “ethnic” nature
 Surprising number of
killings
 No superpower or
institution to respond
 “Not again”: genocide
 Fears of internal war
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Recent history and events
3. The Failed State Phenomenon
 The rise of “failed states”
○ states which cannot or will not safeguard minimal civil
conditions --- Afghanistan 2001?
 Why might states fail? Why is the US not considered
the “most stable of states”?
 Foreign Policy index
 12 social, economic, political and military
indicators
 Rank states, compare different areas and to note
changes.
 Weakest states: Africa, Asia, EE and Latin
America
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Recent history and events
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Recent history and events
4. Changes in global institutions and norms




New structure: bipolar to multipolar
New ideas/norms about “humanitarian
intervention”
New ideas about security, peace and “new
world order” and “human security”
The “right to protect” (R2P)
R2P debate: Does the US have the “right” or
“need” to protect citizens of other countries?
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Recent history and events
5. Sept. 11, 2001

After 9/11: foreign policy
shift to “idealism”:
missionary role of U.S.

Link made between
need for nation building
and terrorism, failed
states and terrorists, WMD

Post CW period: US
involved in (roughly)
about one new NB every
other year
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Afghanistan


American involvement linked to 9/11
Afghanistan’s Troubled History (Four Parts)
I. 1933-1978: what was it like?
- American-Afghan relations : Cold War
- 40 years “constitutional monarchy”
- Why famine and so many deaths?
- Why the coup?
- The challenges of democratizing states
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Afghanistan
II. The 1980s
- The Soviet
occupation (1979-89)
- What was the
government like?
- US-Pakistan relations
- What is
“communism”?
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Afghanistan & the Statebuilding Project
III. The Taliban rule
- Who are the Taliban?
- Where are they from?
- What do they believe in?
- How did they come to
power?
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Afghanistan & the Statebuilding Project
IV. The Events

US goals
 Bin Laden
 Statebuilding
 Certain environment


Partnerships
How policies evolve?
 Unilateral to multilateral?
 International to domestic?

Assessing outcomes?
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Iraq


Linked to 9/11 or not?
Short history of Iraq
(Three Parts)
I. Republic of Iraq (1958)
 First Kurdish War (1961)
 Relations with Britain and
neighbors
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Iraq
II. The Ba’athists in Iraq
 1968-2003: 30 years of what?
 Who were the “Ba’athists”?
 Civil military relations and the role of




the military in the Middle East
The Rise of Saddam Hussein (1979)
The Hussein regime
War with Iran (1980-88)
US-Iraqi relations
III. How we got to the Middle East:
Iraq & The Statebuilding Project

US goals
 Preventive vs.
preemptive war
 Hussein/statebuilding
 Certain environment


Partnerships?
How policies evolve?
 Very unilateral to
multilateral?
 International to
domestic?

Assessing outcomes?
IV. Do words matter:
Defining “statebuilding”

Statebuilding
reconstruction of polities and economies (McMahon & Western)

Nationbuilding
the use of armed forces in the aftermath of conflict to underpin an
enduring transition to democracy (Dobbins)

Peacebuilding
efforts to transform environment to prevent conflict in future (UN)

Empire building
acquire land/resources to increase own power

Neocolonialism
unique position of dependence
IV. Do words matter:
Defining and debating statebuilding
Peacebuilding
 Post-conflict reconstruction and
development
 Stabilization
 Neocolonialism

Debate: What should “it” be called
and why it matters?
V. Understanding Statebuilding:
The Four Central Tasks
1. Security
•
Prevent violence
•
Take guns out of the
hands of individuals
•
Create
“transparency”
•
Reintegration
strategy: “golden
parachutes”
•
Law and Order
V. Understanding Statebuilding:
The Four Central Tasks
2. Political Transition/
Institutional Development
 Deciding the “rules of the game”
 Interim administration: temporary
governance, often shared with the
international community (UN)
 Elections: quickly or wait?
 Emphasis on being inclusive and
representative
 Help to create institutions
Emphasis on “new voices”
Belquis Ahmadi
…If so, how should these ideals be promoted ?
CIVIL SOCIETY?

Civil society = public space that allows
a variety of actors to mediate (stand
between) relations between citizens
and state authorities

How to promote/encourage this
space?

How to promote a free but also
responsible media?
V. Understanding Statebuilding:
The Four Central Tasks
3. (Economic) Development
 Overcome the legacy of war economy
 Need for civil service to help
 Establish economic priorities
 Community development
 Development of state functions: public
good
V. Understanding Statebuilding:
The Four Central Tasks
4. Reconciliation & Rehabilitation/Justice
 Strengthening/renewing social networks
 Empowering individuals and rebuilding
socially and psychologically
What should the goals be?
Justice?
Forgiveness?
Reconciliation?
(Even with the Taliban?)
Can we expect that individuals will
ever heal and move forward?
Altruism?
Imperialism?
Colonialism?
V. Understanding Statebuilding:
Reconstructing North Korea
When to act?
 Who should act?

 Role playing
How should it be done?
 What should be first?
 Who is in charge?
 What are the outcomes sought?

VI: Why bother:
When does it work?

How much force is necessary?

Does money make a difference?

What kinds of external involvement
matters the most?
VI: Why bother:
Force Matters…
VI: Why bother:
Force Matters…
VI: Why bother:
Force Matters…
The Agents
 The UN “system” (4)
 The US
 NATO
 EU
 Non-government Organizations: NGOs
 Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE)
Rand: UN better at learning/statebuilding than
the US
Most important: domestic actors
VI: Why bother:
(Just the gas, not the car)

Need “objective” benchmarks for success

Calculating the cost: is it worth it?

What are the alternatives to helping rebuild
war torn countries?

Should the US focus on human security?

How should the US be involved?

When – if ever – should it lead international
efforts?
VI. Why bother:
Invite serviceman/woman to talk
 Watch a movie:

 Welcome to Sarajevo
 No Man’s Land
 Hotel Rwanda
 Triumph of Evil (great documentary)
 The Hurt Locker
 Kandahar

Invite member of the community
from one of these countries
Looking for Answers

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

Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy
The New York Times, International Herald
Tribune,
Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE)
U.S. Department of State
European Union
UN : UNMIK. Org
RAND (http://www.rand.org/topics/nationbuilding.html)
Looking for Answers
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



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Liberty’s Surest Guardian, Jeremi Suri
Resurrecting Empire, Rashid Khalidi
The Other War: Winning and Losing in
Afghanistan, Ronald Neumann
Three Cups of Tea/Three Cups of Deceit
Losing Iraq, David Phillips
Life in the Green Zone
Iraqgirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq