Summary
We believe that:
- Nation building is incredibly difficult and expensive
- The U.S. should only pursue nation building where underlying political and institutional conditions support the development of a stable democratic society
- The U.S. should pursue nation building only as a part of a broad international coalition
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Background
America had great success with nation building in post-World War II Germany and Japan and more generally throughout Western Europe with the Marshall Plan. We also helped build a vibrant democracy in South Korea. We have also had some costly and unsuccessful efforts. It remains unclear whether post-invasion Iraq will develop into a stable democracy.
One thing is certain: the efforts at nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan were extremely costly. In the future, the United States should consider less costly alternatives for dealing with regimes that threaten us, or appear to do so, including limited, targeted actions short of nation building. In those cases where we do pursue nation building, we should only do so as a part of a broad international coalition.
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