Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
historySep 26, 20241:18:05pending

Nation-Building or Nation-Wrecking

About this episode

After the disastrous failures of the U.S. projects in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Americans have soured on nation-building, especially if it involves the deployment of U.S. troops in a hostile country for years on end. Americans also remember the fiasco in Somalia in 1993 or the hazy national interest when it came to intervening in the Balkans. In this episode, Keith Mines, a former U.S. Army officer and State Department diplomat, contends nation-building is more successful than its detractors are willing to concede. Mines, now an expert on post-conflict stabilization at the U.S. Institute of Peace, has worked in Latin America, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, and elsewhere.

Further reading:

Why Nation Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States by Keith Mines

Subscribe today to support our important work! Subscriptions begin at only $5 per month.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get every episode summarized

Each time History As It Happens publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

Hosts & guests

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

Nation-Building or Nation-Wrecking

History As It Happens

0:00
1:18:05

More episodes

More from History As It Happens

View all episodes →