I don’t want to argue that Afghanistan is an exceptional case in terms of governance and stability, but I don’t think an occupying force will be able to impose democracy and governance in Afghanistan as was done in Kosovo, mostly because I think Whitlock gets the reason for Kosovo’s progress wrong. Whitlock seems to argue that the reason for Kosovo’s tentative success – free and fair elections that drew ethnic Serbs, less than expected levels of violence against the Serb minority, slow economic development – is due to the presence of international forces, including 14 000 NATO troops and a separate 3000 member security force sent by the EU. Peace and stability are important for building a democracy, but democracy does not make a nation. I believe it is the presence of a national identity, not the armies of peacekeepers and diplomats, that makes Kosovo’s state-building possible.

Charles Tilly, in Coercion, Capital and European States, argues that it is the process of fighting wars, creating enemies and allies, of defining who and what one is by who and what one is not that builds the bonds of nationhood. This common mythic past of victories and defeats provides touchstones for a people – to be celebrated, to be manipulated, to be understood and identified with, all of which are useful to the governing process. The literature can’t tell us why countries with greater ethnic fractionalization – a lesser sense of nationhood – have greater difficulties forming a democracy, but the correlation exists. Democracy as a last resort can be possible, perhaps (I think the literature is a little fuzzy on that point as well) but it is easier, as is development, within a nation. The Kosovars are a nation – they are predominantly ethnic Albanian, they interpret their history and culture differently from the ethnic Serbs, and they fought together for independence. My sense about Afghanistan is that it is not, that it might have been at one time, but today it exists as a loose collection of cities and territories claimed by one clan or another, with a common ancestery, but little to bind them.

Perhaps, given another 50 or 100 years of war, a nation might start to emerge, or not, since there is not simply the outsider as common enemy, but civil war as well (of course, other literature argues that peace after civil war isn’t possible unless one side wins definitively. That the US is backing minority factions does not fill me with great confidence that consolidated rule can be established after we withdraw).

I’m not trying to argue that an Afghan state is impossible, but rather that Whitlock draws the wrong conclusions from Kosovo, and therefore Afghanistan. There are lessons to be learned from Kosovo, but they are not so optimistic as he thinks.

Sesame Workshop (SW), the policy and program development arm of the Sesame Street shows, develops television shows in a number of very difficult environments around the world to help children cope with deep social and political problems.  The work is truly impressive.  First, SW develops programs in a number of harsh conflict and post-conflict countries, such as Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and Palestine.  Not only do their programs teach values such as cooperation, tolerance, and solving problems non-violently, but they also address the anxieties and fears children who live in these countries tend to feel.  Second, SW tailors their shows to the situations relevant in each country.  In Egypt, Alam Simsim stresses the importance of educating girls, an important government priority.  In Palestine, Shara’a Simsim teaches boys to solve problems non-violently.  In South Africa, Takalani Sesame focuses on removing the stigma of having HIV/AIDS.  I watched one of the video clips dealing with this issue and was extremely impressed.  Third, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds a lot of this work.  I used to work at USAID and still cooperate closely with them.  I never knew they supported Sesame Street programs in other countries.  The work is phenomenal, yet USAID does not go out of its way to publicize their support for it.  This is amazing considering how much abuse USAID takes for being ineffective.  If I ran USAID, I would put Elmo on USAID’s homepage, hire Big Bird as a receptionist, and hang a giant banner of Bert and Ernie outside USAID headquarters.  This is great work.  Promote it shamelessly.

The New G8?

By the way, if you need your daily dose of cynicism, here it is.