Difficulties in Nation Building

Only when nation building is coupled with strict deterrence efforts can a failed state that has been a center for terrorist activities be strengthened or a state with limited infrastructure be economically assisted. Many of the countries of the Third or developing World may not have the historical backgrounds to become bastions of democratic principles. Democracy presupposes a specific cultural orientation that Bourge (p. 1) believes may very well be lacking in a number of developing states. Countries that have homogeneous populations to build upon and which are not composed of warring religious or ethnic factions may be more amenable to nation building.

Achieving the goal of sustainable economic development of all nations, and the related goal of eradicating the injustice of poverty, has proven to be a difficult challenge. At issue herein is an investigation of how well-known economic development models - those of the Marshall Plan, the European Union and the East Asian Development Model - have facilitated major advances in the economic development of countries and entire regions since World War II. It will be argued that replication of elements of these models can be used in Third World or developing nations to bring about highly desirable (even necessary) advances that will improve the quality of life for the world's most poor and needy citizens.

The ECSC has been identified as an immediate success. Van Oudenaren (246) as well as Anthony Sampson (101) take the position that the elimination of barriers to trade in the coal and steel sectors not only contributed to the European economic resurgence of the early 1950s. Perhaps more significantly, this mechanism began the process of reconciliation between the combatants in World War II and helped to form a nuclear of Western European nations in opposition to the Eastern Bloc. It further embodied the commitment of selected nation-states to the practice of federalism. However, the ECSC's scope of activity was limited to a single economic sector and this led ECSC members to look for new and broader ways for European integration to proceed.

emphasized many different approaches to European recovery. In some instances, the Plan simply subsidized the shipment of voluntary relief packages from the United States citizenry to Europe. In other instances, the Plan provided for direct financial subsidies for infrastructure enhancements or repairs, and in still others, offered medical supplies, technical assistance, education and consultation, and so forth. This multifaceted approach to development recognized that economic recovery rests not only upon infrastructure development, but also on improvements to the living and working conditions experienced by individuals and entire societies.

Sicherman (2) believes that this "indirection" is an important element in the history of the European Union: "All of the participants in the Marshall Plan knew well that it carried supra-national political consequences; so did those who created the European Coal and Steel Community, the Treaty of Rome, Maastricht, and the current European currency unification.

 

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