{"product_id":"building-the-nation-heather-selma-gregg-9781640120877","title":"Building the Nation: Missed Opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan","description":"\u003ci\u003eBuilding the Nation\u003c\/i\u003e draws from foreign-policy reports and interviews with U.S. military officers to investigate recent U.S.-led efforts to \"nation-build\" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Heather Selma Gregg argues that efforts to nation-build in both countries focused more on what should be called state-building, or how to establish a government, rule of law, security forces, and a viable economy. Considerably less attention was paid to what might \u003ci\u003etruly\u003c\/i\u003e be called nation-building--the process of developing a sense of shared identity, purpose, and destiny among a population within a state's borders and popular support for the state and its government. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e According to Gregg, efforts to stabilize states in the modern world require two key factors largely overlooked in Iraq and Afghanistan: popular involvement in the process of rebuilding the state that gives the population ownership of the process and its results and efforts to foster and strengthen national unity. Gregg offers a hypothetical look at how the United States and its allies could have used a population-centric approach to build viable states in Iraq and Afghanistan, focusing on initiatives that would have given the population buy-in and agency. Moving forward, Gregg proposes a six-step program for state and nation-building in the twenty-first century, stressing that these efforts are as much about \u003ci\u003ehow\u003c\/i\u003e state-building is done as they are about specific goals or programs. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Heather Selma Gregg\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1640120874\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781640120877\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Potomac Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/01\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 296\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.20d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2018","brand":"Heather Selma Gregg","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43937071595775,"sku":"9781640120877","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_09e30282-66cb-4759-a634-04e475fb531a.jpg?v=1681428061","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/building-the-nation-heather-selma-gregg-9781640120877","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}