U.s. Foreign Relations In The Reconstruction Study

Nation building is an ancient and new topic in international relations. Generallyspeaking, nation building can be defined as the involvement in one country's or onecountry area's internal affairs and the reestablishment of government and differentmechanism after conflicts which was carried out by major powers or internationalorganizations through the use of force or war, and other means. The re-establishmentof national machinery and social order is the core of nation building activities.Nation building is closely related with intervention, peacekeeping operationscolonism, and "democratization". The subjects of nation building activities are majorpowers or international organizations and the targets of nation building are thecountries which have experienced conflicts or been defeated in war. In western society,experts and government officers argue that in order to promote democracy around theworld, ensure international and regional security, safeguard national interests, fightagainst terrorism and maintain the international balance of power, the target countriesor areas needs nation building or reconstruction.Generally speaking, nation building includes four different parts: securityreconstruction, political reconstruction, economic reconstruction and cultural renewal,of which the established security environment is the premise of nation building andthe establishment of mechanisms and cultural integration is the key to the success ofnational building. More generally, we can judge the legitimacy of national buildingoperations from the international law and the awareness of the internationalcommunity.From the 19thcentury, the United States' nation building in other countries can bedivided into four stages: the colonial period of the early 20th century, the militaryoccupation after World War II, the humanitarian intervention of the post-cold war andthe new generation nation building after 9.11 events. America's nation building inGermany, Somalia, Kosovo of former Yugoslavia and Iraq are the typical cases ofsuccesses, failures, mixed successes and the ongoing reconstruction. In differenthistorical periods, the United States have involved in nation building activitiesrepeatedly and the U.S. nation buildings largely have had the same model. The U.S.nation buildings abroad have experienced a transformation from multilateralism tounilateralism, and its legitimacy has been decreasing.From the international relations and international law perspective, the UnitedStates nation buildings are often the intervention in the internal affairs which violatethe widely accepted basic principles of international relations and its main object is tomaintain its superpower status and realize its national interests. The U.S. nationbuilding operations have experienced failures and successes, and the U.S.-ledreconstructions cannot solve crises and conflicts of the target country fundamentally.Meanwhile, nation buildings are long-term and costly operations.American nation building operations in other countries reflect the combination ofthe United States realism and idealism in its foreign policy. Currently, the UnitedStates is the sole superpower in the world which has strong military, economic,technological and cultural power. In the foreseeable future, the United States is likelyto continue to involve in national building operations in order to safeguard its nationalinterests.