SPRING 2003 LECTURE SERIES
Thursday, March 27th, 2003, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

NATION BUILDING: DOES IT WORK?

a panel discussion with

JULIE MERTUS
assistant professor at American University's School of International Service and co-director of its Ethics and Peace M.A. program; author of Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a War and War's Offensive on Women: The Humanitarian Challenge in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan

and

DAVID L. PHILLIPS
senior fellow and deputy director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations; director of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Building Program at American University's Center for Global Peace; served as a senior advisor to the US State Department

Moderated by

BELINDA COOPER
World Policy Institute Senior Fellow

After coming into office firmly opposed to the idea of nation-building, the Bush Administration found itself confronted after September 11 with the need to do just that in Afghanistan and possibly in a future, post-war Iraq. Yet the challenges of nation-building in impoverished, war-torn regions with a history more of fragmentation than of consolidation remain immense. What, indeed, does it mean to build a nation, and how realistic is the prospect? Does nation-building require establishing democratic institutions, even in places that have never known these, or simply ensuring stability, possibly under authoritarian rulers? What roles do outsiders-foreign governments, NGOs, the UN, international financial institutions--play in this process, and how are they to approach the task? Does the experience of rebuilding Germany and Japan after World War II have any relevance? Can the experience of former Yugoslavia provide any guidance? Finally, is the West, above all the current US administration, willing to invest the resources required to build stable nations, or will they instead attempt what some have termed "nation-building lite"?

Thursday, March 27, 2003, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Swayduck Auditorium, First Floor, 65 Fifth Avenue (between East 13-14th). Admission is free.

RSVP 212-229-5808 ext. 4272 to reserve seating or e-mail: wpi@newschool.edu if you need special accommodations, please call at least five days in advance.

Online webcast and discussion:

Enter the www.dialnsa.edu website and click on the "Nation Building: Does it Work?" which will be listed under Special Events. Be sure on the day of the event that it is between 6:00 - 7.30 pm EST to view the live webcast. Archived realplayer files will be available from this page in the following week.

After attending the panel discussion or viewing the webcast you can join the online discussion offered during the following 2 weeks after the date of the event. At the www.dialnsa.edu website you will need to "request guest access" and obtain a login and password to participate. Signing up for this is simple and takes less than a minute to do.

If you wish to show further support for these events, you can make a donation to the World Policy Institute. To learn more about our activities sign up to our mailing list.

top