Nation-Building: Supranational Challenges
Introduction
Nation-building process is connected with finding the most appropriate balance of regulations and freedoms necessary to provide all people living in the state with the equal opportunities for life and development. As argued by Fukuyama, the nation-building process comprises three distinct phases (2004, p.100). The first one is connected with post-conflict reconstruction, when the state system destroyed by a conflict needs to be rebuild from the foundation. In this phase the disorganized and disintegrated states receives outside resources, either human or monetary, to help in establishing short-term stability and restart the operation of the infrastructure (Fukuyama, p.100).
The second phase is connected with establishment of self-sustaining state institutions, which can maintain the stability in the state after the outside assistance seizes. The third phase of nation-building is connected with support given to the weak states, which have the necessary state institutions, but are struggling in such dimensions as priority of law or education. The outside actors can be represented by states, coalitions of states or international institutions. In the process of nation-building outside actors usually experience numerous challenges, which prevent the outside actors from striking a reasonable balance between punitive and reconciliatory measures in the process of implementation of the three above mentioned phases. The efforts of the external actors and internal stakeholders should be applied to different tasks corresponding to the possibilities of both, which will provide the most efficient nation-building process.
Role of Outside Actors in solving Inter- and Intra-State Conflicts in the post-Cold War Era
The contemporary world is a complex system of interrelations, which have been caused by globalization and economic integration of nations due to activities of numerous supranational organizations, either economic or regulatory. The development of analytical techniques and experience provided nations with abilities to predict the patterns of state development in the long-term perspective. The impacts of the conflicts are adequately assessed in the contemporary world, putting their resolution on the higher level of priority due to the understanding of the related consequences. As argued by Wallensteen, it is not enough for the outside world to address the conflicting parties with an appeal to set up negotiations and establish contacts (p.3). The role of outside parties in the conflict resolution has significantly increased, as the geopolitical influences undergo the process of division between the main players in the global politics.
This makes the conflicts resolution process a key task for all the nations, which can be influenced by the political, social and economic outcomes of the conflict. The example of such outside actors’ participation in the internal conflicts can be observed in the most contemporary Ukrainian crisis resolution, which is mediated by the representatives of Russia and EU. A argued by Lazar, the Ukrainian crisis influences and is under the influence of the overall security dynamics taking place in the region as well as under the influence of interstate relations dynamics (2014 p. 37). This conflict is the return of the confrontation between the Russia and the rest of the European continent, which …
