Remember Libya? In the two years since Moammar Qaddafi was overthrown there, abetted by American, British, and French forces, the country has fallen under the control of criminal gangs (they call them “militias”) and its economy is in collapse. Qaddafi’s arms made their way into the hands of Islamists who used them to inflict who knows how much death and destruction in Mali and destabilized the government there. The Washington Post editors have a prescription—nation building:
What Libya needs from Washington is not a special forces raid but much more help in building a state. In a letter to Secretary of State John F. Kerry released this week, 28 experts, including former American diplomats, scholars and businessmen, urged a more active policy that would expand beyond seeking justice for the Benghazi attack. They urged U.S. technical support for the drafting of a new constitution that safeguards human rights, help in developing a long-term strategy to create an independent judiciary and training programs for security forces.
After helping to liberate Libya, the Obama administration and its European allies were too quick to walk away, leaving a shattered country to find its own way. If they wish to avoid another Arab state descending into chaos, they need to come back.
Have we learned nothing over the last decade? We’re just not very good at nation-building. They might have thought of that before kicking over the apple cart. Nation-building was never on the agenda for Libya and, if it had been viewed as a prerequisite for action, I strongly suspect that Qaddafi would have been left in charge.
Neat, plausible, and wrong.
Here’s my modest proposal: let the British, French, and Italians take responsibility for the nation-building. They did need us to get rid of Qaddafi but they don’t need us for that.
The Clinton’s had the Fleetwood Mac riff “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”
Any truth that the Obama Administration has adopted “Hey, “O,” Where You Goin’ With That Gun in Your Hand?”
Sorry.
Is anyone actually good at nation building? Has it ever been done well? Leaving out “nation re” like the Marshall Plan.
Is anyone actually good at nation building? Has it ever been done well? Leaving out nation rebuilding like the Marshall Plan.
The two most amusing things I have heard so far today
1. Lanny Davis on a local radio show touting Obama’s leadership on Syria.
2. A parody with John Kass doing Putin as Boris Badinov and Obama as Bullwinkle.
We did ok in Japan and Europe, but that was not nation building in the same way we are trying to do it in the ME. No one covers Iraq anymore, but there are actually a lot more killings going on there than in Libya. We spent billions on nation building there, lost thousands of lives, and have little to show for it. We just arent good at it, but then I dont think anyone else is either. If Libya wants us to help train troops or something, I am ok with that, if they want to pay us for it.
Steve
after killing about 5% of the population in the case of Japan and demonstrating a willingness to kill the rest as required.
We did ok in Japan and Europe
after killing about 5% of the population in the case of Japan and demonstrating a willingness to kill the rest as required.
We were also clearly and unequivocably “occupiers” but no one has the stomach for that anymore.
But my point was on building a stable nation only on the foundation of a previous dictatorship, puppet state, or perhaps colonial state. My historical knowledge of the devolution of the British Empire (or lesser European empires) is sparse…were there cases where they did this sort of thing and had it turn out well? Can people be weaned off of an authoritarian government, and if so, does it depend on whether or not the majority of the country’s population wants that to happen?
South Korea nation-building? Partition may have been important in helping promote South Korean agency in creating the institutions that would protect them from the Communist North. But the ongoing security threat meant that the country had authoritarian periods. Partition may be an important prerequisite for Libya.
I mentioned this earlier, in another post, but I think it bears repeating.
Remember Romney’s cautionary remarks about Mali’s terrorist vulnerability, as well as his ‘eyes open’ look at Putin and Russia, in juxtapositioning Obama’s comment of being ‘more flexible’ following his reelection? He was roundly chided, for this too, by his opponent, liberal pundits and the MSM. Interestingly enough, though, none of these same people are saying a peep about it now. Nor, are they questioning Obama as to why he didn’t gauge and better prepare for some of these uncertainties.
For nation-building, the most important factor is the “nation” being built and not the nation doing the building. Germany, Japan and Korea are not at all like Somalia or Libya or even Syria.
Also, we should be careful about paternalistic western notions of governance. One size does not fit all.
Have we learned nothing over the last decade?
We have forgotten nothing and learned nothing. It’s a pretty neat trick when you think about it.
We did ok in Japan and Europe
after killing about 5% of the population in the case of Japan and demonstrating a willingness to kill the rest as required.
Well, if you’re going to pick nits….