It has been more than twelve years since the swift military operation removed Saddam Hussien's dictatorship from Iraq. Thousands of American soldiers participated in both combat and stabilization missions, the post-conflict reconstruction cost a significant amount of money. However, Iraq is far from being in peace. Therefore, the author of the thesis Iraqi Democracy: American Nation-building and Counter-insurgency in the Iraq War poses a question why the counter-insurgency and nation-building efforts did not meet with success in Iraq. He works with the assumption that one of the reasons the long-term stabilization mission in Iraq was unsuccessful was the American strategic culture, which is not ready for conflicts of the new century. Most contemporary conflicts are non-conventional; often we can see asymmetrical conflicts of low intensity without a direct conventional encounter of opposing armies. Using qualitative analysis of various combat and non-combat provisions in the Iraq War, the author concludes that under the influence of a long-term strategic culture and conventional mindset in the conduct of military operations, the United States didn't manage to adapt to the new type of conflict and it didn't learn its lesson from previous mistakes.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis deals with nation-building in South Africa since 1994 with a view to finding out the direction taken by nation-building since then. This issue has been and it still is a controversial issue in South Africa. The new dispensation in South Africa occasioned a need for the creation of new national institutions, leaders and policies for the nation. Hence, an inclusive/liberal nation-building programme was put in place. Since 1994 this programme has been carried out by two presidents, namely former president Mandela (1994-1999) and President Mbeki (1999-2002+) respectively. Nevertheless, these two leaders do not only subscribe to different philosophies but also have two divergent approaches to nation-building. Although they are both individualists, Mandela is Charterist whereas Mbeki is an Africanist. Moreover, Mandela promoted nation-building through reconciliation and corporatism. Mbeki's approach to nation-building, on the contrary, emphasises transformation and empowerment through the market. These approaches seem contradictory and thus mutually exclusive. This does not augur weU for fragile democracy of South Africa. Therefore, an attempt will be made to find out whether this is true and thus finding out the direction taken by nationbuilding. This will be done by comparing the Mandela and Mbeki approaches to nation-building. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie werkstuk handeloor nasiebou in Suid-Afrika sedert 1994, met die doelom die tendense sedertdien te bepaal. Dit was en is steeds 'n kontroversiële kwessie in Suid- Afrika. Die nuwe bedeling in Suid-Afrika het dit noodsaaklik gemaak dat nuwe instellings, leiers en beleide in die nasie tot stand sal kom. Daar is vervolgens op 'n inklusiewe/liberale nasiebou program besluit. Sedert 1994 was dit uitgevoer onder die leierskap van twee presidente, te wete Mandela (1994-1999) en Mbeki (1999-2002+) respektiewelik. Dié twee leiers onderskryf verskillende filosofieë en het ook verskillende benaderings tot nasiebou. Beide is individualiste, en Mandela die Charteris terwyl Mbeki weer die Afrikanis is. Meer spesifiek, Mandela het nasiebou bevorder deur versoening en korporatisme te bevorder. Mbeki aan die ander kant, plaas weer klem op transformasie en bemagtiging deur die mark. Hierdie benaderings skyn teenstrydig te wees. Daarom is 'n poging aangewend om te bepaal hoe insiggewend die verskille is en wat die tendense is. Moontlik spel dit niks goeds vir die nuwe demokrasie nie. Dit is gedoen deur Mandela en Mbeki sistematies te vergelyk.

Promoting the rule of law is vital for the success of domestic and international postconflict state-building efforts. Yet in post-conflict settings, non-state justice systems handle most disputes, retaining substantial autonomy and authority. Legal pluralism's importance, however, is rarely recognized and dramatically under-theorized. This thesis demonstrates that multiple justice systems can co-exist and contribute to the development of a democratic state bound by the rule of law. Domestic and international efforts, however, must be cognizant of the overarching legal pluralism paradigm that exists when trying to build the rule of law and tailor their strategies accordingly. By drawing on two divergent case studies, Timor-Leste and Afghanistan, this dissertation examines the conditions under which the rule of law can be advanced in post-conflict settings featuring a high degree of legal pluralism and substantial international involvement. Four distinct legal pluralism paradigms are proposed - combative, competitive, cooperative, and benign - in order to understand how legal pluralism functions in practice. Timor-Leste successfully advanced the rule of law because the major parties remained committed to democracy and developed institutions promoting accountability, inclusivity, and legality. The state meaningfully collaborated with key non-state actors. While the process was imperfect, Timorese state-officials effectively mediated between the international community and local-level figures. This contributed to the effective transformation of a competitive legal pluralist environment into a cooperative one. The international community largely reinforced these positive trends. Conversely, Afghanistan's post-2001 regime squandered the opportunity to build a democratic state bound by the rule of law. Simultaneously, it failed to mediate between the international community and the tribal and religious authorities essential for legitimate rule. Despite international actor's substantial influence, external aid did little good and was often counter-productive. These divergent approaches helps explain judicial state-building's failure and the corresponding slide from competitive into combative legal pluralism against the Taliban.

Using the example of the French-German border, which had been established in 1871 after the annexation of Alsace and parts of Lorraine, this article centres around the (methodological) argument of analysing borders and borderlands through the lens of practices. Instead of focusing on identities, my point is to ask about the ways common people moved through the borderland, and about the (spatial) rationales they followed in their everyday lives. Their agency, mobility and actions can be traced in files produced by the newly created border police, an institution charged with the surveillance, documentation, and rejection of border crossers. The border police inspectors’ practices made the border tangible for those that were considered suspicious (as non-loyal or not belonging) – an assumption often based on how people moved through the borderland. I argue that we cannot grasp the impact of the national border by solely looking at the conceptions of border regions but have to take practices and the many ways of making sense of this space seriously: The border residents’ economic, social, and religious spaces or other people’s longer trajectories followed their own logics, but then collided with the clear national separation that border police officials sought to put into practice. Therefore, it was not so much the border crossers’ motivation, but the administration, diplomacy, and press that framed events on the ground as national conflicts or clear statements of national belonging.

The present thesis explores the politics of reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda by focusing on one of its little-studied aspects— the government-led project of ‘unity building.’ To uncover the type of unit(ies) that are actually produced (not just officially envisioned), the analysis operates at three interconnected levels— i) at the level of the discourse of unity and reconciliation (studying its proper logic in addition to the ways in which it is shaped/structured by other discourses, such as security or prosperity/development); ii) at the level of concrete strategies and policies; and finally iii) at the level of ‘enaction’ through a score of official (and purportedly ‘local’ and ‘traditional’) activities. Many of the activities considered here have received no in-depth study. The official activities are explored both in toto and through an in in-depth analysis of one key exemplar – the ingando camps – transitory and transient spaces of re-education/sensitisation and reintegration tailored for selected segments of the population. The thesis demonstrates the ways in which the process of kubaka ubumwe / unity-building is profoundly politicised. Detailed attention is paid to exposing the way in which i) political dynamics affect the very conception of ‘unity’ and ‘reconciliation;’ ii) the manner in which power and the state mould unity and reconciliation activities, determining what can be achieved through them (or not); and finally iii) the ways in which the government appropriates the whole unity-building process for other than stated aims. The research shows how unity is shaped to imply consent, homogeneity and non-dissension, thus serving specific governmentality goals in the highly controlling environment of the authoritarian state (producing docile and legible subjects). Furthermore, the thesis shows how the process of unity and reconciliation is subsumed to the broader social engineering project of the state aimed at shaping citizens’ ‘mentalities’ and at their transformation into ‘perfect development subjects.’

Abstract This thesis is intended to explore the international relations of emerging nation-building in the Somali coast, with particular reference to the un-recognised Republic of Somaliland in the north-western Horn of Africa region. This study focuses on the international relations of Somaliland’s international quest for recognition, linked to its own culturally-rooted internal reconciliatory post-war nation-building efforts. Informed by written as well as first-hand research interviews, particular focus is placed in this study on the interplay of internal and external forces in shaping a strategy by Somaliland’s elites for acquiring international recognition and national selfdetermination. These are placed within the broader regional and international context of attempts to resuscitate the Somali state, an endeavour offering a fitting assessment of different modalities of African nation-building within the greater Somali environment. In relative analytic terms, the competitive international relations of nation-building in Somaliland and state reconstitution in southern Somalia informs the underlying hypothesis of this thesis: Somaliland’s example as a study in the efficacy of the internally-driven, culturally-rooted ‘bottom-up’ approach to post-war nation-building and regional stability, and the implications this holds for prioritising reconciliation between indigenous traditions and modernity in achieving stability in nation-building. By contrast, the internationally-backed ‘top-down’ approach to reconstituting a Mogadishu-based Somali state remains elusive. Yet, the international status quo regarding the affording of diplomatic recognition to what are normally considered secessionist ‘break-away’ regions of internationally recognised states, complicates Somaliland’s culturally rooted ‘bottom-up’ modalities. It also challenges the African Union (AU) during the ‘good governance’ era of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a context within which Somaliland fits comfortably as a good citizen of the international community. The international relations of the Somaliland nation-building enterprise is approached from a ‘quadrilateral framework’ of interactive elements to the Somaliland experience: Reconciliation, Reconstruction, Religion and Recognition. This framework informs the four core chapters of the thesis.

ABSTRACT This thesis examines the representation of trauma and memory in six post-Apartheid plays. The topic is explored through a treatment of the tropes of racial segregation, different forms of dispossession as well as violence. The thesis draws its inspiration from the critical and self-reflexive engagements with which South African playwrights depict the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The dramatists are concerned with the contested nature of the TRC as an experiential and historical archive. Others explore the idea of disputed and seemingly elusive notions of truth (from the embodied to the forensic). Through the unpacking of the TRC, as reflected in three of the plays, the thesis argues that apart from the idea of an absolute or forensic truth, the TRC is also characterised by the repression of truth. Furthermore, there is a consideration of debates around amnesty, justice, and reparations. Underpinning the politics and representations of trauma and memory, the thesis also interrogates the concomitant explorations and implications of identity and citizenship in the dramas. In the experience of violence, subjugation and exile, the characters in the dramas wrestle with the physical and psychological implications of their lived experiences. This creates anxieties around notions of self and community whether at home or in exile and such representations foreground the centrality of memory in identity construction. All these complex personal and social challenges are further exacerbated by the presence of endemic violence against women and children as well as that of rampart crime. The thesis, therefore, explores the negotiation of memory and identity in relation to how trauma could be mitigated or healing could be attained. The thesis substantially blurs the orthodox lines of differentiation between race and class, but emphasises the centrality of the individual or self in recent post-Apartheid engagements.

En Asie centrale la construction soviétique s’est avérée difficile, puisqu’elle impliquait la transformation radicale des sociétés locales. Cette thèse va montrer comment les 70 ans de pouvoir soviétique ont changé pour toujours la société, l’économie et la culture du Kazakhstan. Une attention particulière est donnée à la population kazakhe à partir des premières années soviétiques, jusqu’aux années 2000, à leurs parcours dans la capitale soviétique et ensuite dans la métropole contemporaine. Cette thèse aborde les questions comme la rencontre des anciens nomades Kazakhs avec les Russes dans l’espace urbain, le rôle de l’ethnicité et de la culture locale dans les transformations promues par le pouvoir soviétique et, ensuite, dans le processus de construction nationale. La reconstruction de l’histoire sociale de la communauté urbaine, avec l’aide des archives et d’entretiens approfondis, nous révèle une société complexe qui a su adapter la culture locale et celle soviétique en créant sa propre version du soviétisme. Notre thèse suppose que dans ce contexte, les questions sociales liées à l’urbanisation, qui se perpétuent jusqu’à la fin de l’URSS, influenceront considérablement les transformations d’après 1991 et que sans une bonne attention à l’univers local, nous ne pouvons pas comprendre le passé soviétique en Asie centrale, ni les transformations récentes. Dans la ville, le pouvoir soviétique et ensuite celui du président kazakh Nazarbaev contribuent à construire des espaces publics et une mémoire urbaine qui racontent la modernité du peuple kazakh. Notre recherche montre que la ville est un cas d’étude utile pour développer un discours plus ample concernant les sociétés et les cultures du monde. / In Central Asia the imposition of the Soviet State proved to be difficult, as it implied the radical transformation of local societies. This dissertation shows how 70 years of Soviet power changed forever Kazakhstan’s society, economy and culture. Its focuses in particular on the Kazakh people starting from the first Soviet years to the 2000s, and on their journey towards the Soviet capital and later towards a contemporary metropolis. This dissertation approaches questions such as the encounter of the ex Kazakh nomads with the Russians in the urban space, the role of ethnicity and of the local culture in the transformations promoted by the Soviet State and, later, in the process of nation building. The reconstruction of the social history of the urban community, with the aid of archives and in-depth interviews, reveals a complex society which adapted the local culture and the Soviet one to create its own version of Sovietism. My dissertation argues that in such context, social questions connected to the urbanization, which remain actual till the end of the Soviet Union, will affect considerably the transformations after 1991 and that if we do not pay the just attention to the local universe, we cannot understand the Soviet past in Central Asia, neither the recent changes. In the city, the Soviet power and, later, that of Kazakh President Nazarbaev, contribute to the construction of public spaces and of urban memory telling about the modernity of the Kazakh people. The city is, as I put it in my research, is a useful case study to develop broader questions regarding world cultures and societies.

The negotiation of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (1993) and subsequent creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999 have been considered by some to be the beginning of the nation to nation reconciliation between the Inuit of the Eastern Arctic and Canada. The institutions of public government that were created through this agreement are intended in part to support Inuit in shaping their economic livelihoods in the territory on their terms. However, it is unclear how territorial and regional planners and decision-makers in positions of power conceptualize “successful economic development” in Nunavut and what implications this could have for Inuit self-determination. Key informants from the Government of Nunavut (GN) and several Inuit and Land Claims Organizations (ILCOs) were interviewed (n=17) to understand how they conceptualize successful development in the territory and what they think is needed to attain their vision. A framework for Indigenous nation building (Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development), developed from three decades of research, is used to analyze the interview results. The results of this qualitative analysis indicate that key informants interpret their role toward Inuit self-determination as promoting Inuit participation in Nunavut’s market-based, wage-labour economy. This has important implications for possible GN and ILCO coordination and collaboration in their socio-economic efforts on behalf of Nunavummiut.

<p>Namibia won its independence in 1990 after a long liberation struggle lead by the – since independence ruling party – SWAPO. There is an ongoing nation-building process in the multiethnic country ever since, with a vision about a unified nation. This study examines the relationship between the nation and one of its ethnic minority groups; the San. From a socio-economic perspective the San is the most disadvantaged ethnic group of contemporary Namibia. How do members of San experience national participation? How does the nation handle the ethnic diversity? This study illustrates that a national identity is promoted by the government and that the struggle for an unified nation is legitimized with the liberation struggle and its won independence. At the same time members of San seem to identify their living situation with ethnicity and are more concerned about the survival of their closest community than national participation. The discussion is based on qualitative interviews where experiences among San-members and one NGO-volunteer are analysed with inspiration of the method Grounded Theory, related to earlier research on the field and theories of nationalism and ethnicity.</p>