Analysis of Peace-building, State-building, Nation-building Turtles All the Way Down Article - Book Report/Review Example

 Peace-building, State-building, and Nation-building Article Review on Peacebuilding, State building, Nation building – Turtles All the Way Down? By Catherine Goetze and DejanGuzina Introduction Catherine’s and Dejan’s article on peace building, state building, and nation building explores some of the most essential issues affecting people in the society. For example in today’s politics, peacebuilding is one of the most essential issues that politicians must put into consideration. Following the collapse of communism in 1989, the international community begun the process of peacebuilding amongst the torn communities. One of the most notable organization that focuses on peacebuilding is the United Nations, which focuses on strengthening states as one of the for achieving peace. The fundamental approach created by the United Nations believed that the peacebuilding is the only solution to global conflict. Consequently, many western countries have since begun campaigns aimed at rebuilding strengthening the failed states. The major objective of supporting the failed states is to ensure that the process goes through democratization. This article plays an important role of highlighting the peacebuilding and democratization processes elaborately by citing examples of both democratic and undemocratic nations (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). It is noteworthy that the process of peacebuilding and democratization faces numerous challenges. In fact, the practice of external democratization in some countries turned out to be futile. Because of these relentless challenges, another group of scholars decided to contest the idea of peripheral democratization. These scholars called this process of democratization as an emergent form of colonialism where hegemonic powers exercise greater controls over individual state’s internal politics (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). They contend that many developed states focusing to help the failed states are opportunistic of gaining economically in the guise of peacebuilding, state building and nation building. This paper provides a review of the major issues highlighted aims presenting critical analysis of the article “Peacebuilding, Statebuilding, Nationbuilding - Turtles All the Way Down?” by Catherine Goetze and DejanGuzina, which identifies the practice of external democratization and discusses how this practice has resulted in negative outcomes for the international community. Review of the Article Catherine Goetze’s and DejanGuzina’s article appears to have been well articulated through careful consideration of the issues at hand. They reflect on the most crucial issue involved in reviving failed states. The authors highlight on the idea that peacebuilding is a significant factor in the world. The article explores numerous notions through a well-developed structure that carefully considers government policies, how governments struggle to evolve, mature and regrettably collapse. Through this article it becomes clear that it places much of its emphasis on the important role played by the public. This is important because the public has a crucial role to play in terms of liberty that their government can capably exercise. The article further merits its views through citing numerous examples of historical events. Many countries demand for new operations in terms of governance. This is because civil war increased at an alarming rate, and there was the need to negotiate settlement through peaceful talks. In this regard, the authors cite the importance of liberty and democracy amongst the ailing nations. Someone may ask whether peace building must be liberal (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). The answer is yes and no because some of the examples cited in the article clearly indicate that peacebuilding can rely on other alternative ways of ensuring that peacebuilding utilizes strategies that are rooted in liberal principles. The article indicates that if all peacebuilding efforts are rooted in peacebuilding principles, it would create problems than solve. The article suggests some of the approaches that can be employed such as the creation of international agencies that will guarantee trust in the war-torn states. As suggested by the article, this strategy is unlikely to work because it would ignore the input of the local actors. In short, it looks more or less like the colonial government. This approach, though suggested by the authors of this article, it would affect the already fragile states. Another strategy suggested by the article in the process of peacebuilding is the transfer of sovereign powers to local actors. This is one of the most appropriate strategies that look applicable in peacebuilding process. Another viable approach is liberal peacebuilding mission, which emphasizes the efforts of identifying local leaders to rule as undemocratic strongmen over the community.The foreigners should merely facilitate the process of peacebuilding through providing financial support to the affected nations. This article further cites the need to embrace traditional practices in peacekeeping missions. The idea of using indigenous practices of peace-making and governance instead of elections remains one of the most appropriate methods to employ. This approach is likely to explore the existing models that will encourage liberal democracy (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). The article also highlights some of the legalistic and formalistic approaches, which are also preferable. However, many people may prefer the traditional methods because they focus on building consensus while at the same time they restore human resource balance. Many attribute this to the traditional approaches remain essential in ongoing harmonious. This article also highlights on some of the critiques of peacebuilding mission as emphasized by the United Nations. Conversely, the article focuses on analyzing peace and state-building as a fundamental issue that must be addressed. However, the authors also cite some problems associated with workings of state and peacebuilding processes. The authors indicate that this has numerous challenges that deter democratic aspirations of peace building. The authors of this article present a policy-oriented people willing to embrace the international systems in helping the war-torn nations to rebuild their economies (Goetze & Guzina, 2008).The authors highlight some of the issues essential in promoting institutionalbuilding through re-engineering principles that guide the process of institutional building. The nation building is said by the authors that it is a way of promoting democratization. The authors use this article to consider as a starting point to ask regarding the idea of democracy in the world of politics. They also emphasize the importance of international relations in rebuilding and reconstruction of empires. They encourage the incorporation of citizens in the running of state building because it has some impact on state building and patronizing toensure that peacebuilding hardly conceals its fundamentally authoritarian and undemocratic nature of governance. Some researchers contend that under conditions of radical ambiguity the policymaking branch that enhances administrative efficiency. The U.N. has initiated numerous development programs aimed at improving the ailing nations. This is done through international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. The authors of this article try to develop concepts that are essential in ensuring that IMF and World Bank encourage state building, albeit employing different motivations and perspectives (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). This article is very positive since it highlights the most important issues that must be addressed in the state building. The article further explores the most important ideas that must be addressed in ensuring that the development programs do not fail. This is an important aspect because some of the approaches will help in reducing cases of poverty and war among communities. The author is concerned with the efforts of peacebuilding measures, which also encourages ethnic competition. The article aims at building solid peace among nations and within different nations. This is an important aspect in the lives of those willing to embrace change. The authors indicate that there are numerous ethnic differences such as socially constructed and politically manipulated ethnicity that opposes the process of state, peace, and nation building. Some of the prevailing obstacles are associated with comparative politics and undemocratic regimes that oppress the efforts of building sustainable peace. This article also in the final part of the literature review cites some of policy recommendations (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). They encourage transformation politics, social hierarchies, cultural norms, and economic structures in all the regions affected by civil war. They also recommend that the affected areas must receive compensation based on the consociation democracies. These efforts remain instrumental in the process of developing a framework that will ensure an inherent link between stability, democracy and peace. Yet, the authors indicate that comparative politics remains essential in the process of peacebuilding. In cases where there are disagreements between two political parties following an unfair electoral process, there should be power-sharing deals that must be brokered to avoid violence (Goetze & Guzina, 2008). This is based on the idea of peace building and saving lives. The article further highlights some of the major processes that are likely to help in peacebuilding missions. This is achievable through ensuring that the involved parties emphasize the notion of accommodating the locals. This can be further done by assessing the level of conflict and the international capacity to handle issues of conflict. Conclusion The article “Peacebuilding, State building, Nation building - Turtles All the Way Down?” by Catherine Goetze and DejanGuzina highlights numerous issues that remain essential in the process of peacebuilding. The authors emphasize peacebuilding because it is the only what that most of the war torn nations can rebuild. Some of these ailing nations have problems in addressing these challenges without seeking international intervention. In this regard, the U.N. plays an essential role in ensuring that all the nations embrace peace. This article emphasizes the efforts made by the World Bank and IMF in helping improve the living conditions of the affected countries. Goetzeand Guzina(2008) argue that many efforts have been made; yet, this article postulates some approaches that can be employed to help build solid peace. One of the approaches proposed via this article is the use of traditional practices instead of liberal principles. They argue that though liberal principles have been used in other nations, it is essential to embrace other approaches in peace, state, and nation building process. The authors have developed very elaborate and organized approaches that remain essential in the process of peacebuilding amongst the war-torn nations. It is noteworthy that this article is a collection of inputs from other sources. For one to understand this article better, it highlights some social issues associated with lack of efforts that assist in peacebuilding. It asks the question regarding the standards through which the success and failures of peace, state, and nation building is measured. As much as the article presents theoretical framework essential in embracing the concept of social construction of states, it barely demonstrates the importance of addressing the challenges through a theoretical framework as suggested by the authors. Reference Goetze, C., & Guzina, D. (2008). “Peacebuilding, State building, Nation building - Turtles All the Way Down?” Civil Wars, Vol. 10, No. 4., pp. 319-347. Read More