Page 64 - Coespu 2020-2

IN DEPTH

PEACEKEEPERS

AND THE BIRTH OF NATIONS

Peacekeepers and the birth of nation as a ‘cultural-political com- democratic, and eventually fun-
nations munity that has become conscious ction without the need for outside
of its autonomy, unity and parti- assistance. These core infrastructu-
cular interests’. Smith’s defi nition res are the pillars of what makes
By Francesca Del Mese that a nation is ‘cultural-political’ a nation, and include (but are li-
probably fi ts in most easily with mited to), the existence of a Con-
most modern-day State-building stitution, elections, a civilian police
contexts, although it falls short of force, an independent judiciary, a
implying a sense of permanence corpus of laws in line with interna-
The idea of what constitutes a or institutionalism. This then leads tional standards, a competent civil
nation has drawn diverse defi ni- us to ask: what is it that transfor- service, and a clear separation of
tions by academics and historians. ms a ‘community’ into a nation? State powers. The UN has advoca-
Some commentators limit the me- What is nation-building, and why ted these principles for decades,
aning to ethnic considerations, is it important for peacekeeping? refl ected through its rule of law and
describing a nation as an ethnic Peacekeeping is ordinarily envi- governance programmes in many
group that has mobilised and in- sioned as being the fi rst step in a countries. Critical to the democra-
stitutionalised itself. Others take a journey whereby a country re-sta- tic functioning of these core pillars
broader view, stating there must bilises and re-builds itself. The is a strong sense of values that cut
be a common identifi er that de- obvious long-term hope is that across all components, transfor-
notes nationhood, for example, the host country, with the help of ming these separate columns into
language, territory or culture. Pro- donor entities, strengthens its core a joined and coherent structure.
fessor Anthony D. Smith defi nes a infrastructure so it can be resilient, These values include: principles of

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