BY OZDEMIR INCE
HURRIYET- I’m surprised to see that neo-liberals in Turkey haven’t yet shown much interest in Francis Fukuyama’s latest book ‘State-Building’. How can they ignore such a man who has provided the basis for their arguments for decades? That’s what I call unfaithfulness.
To tell the truth, I like Fukuyama for his open style, and especially his frankness. ‘State-Building’ begins with an explanation of why it’s impossible to renounce the ‘nation-state.’ Turkel Minibas of Cumhuriyet describes what Fukuyama means by nation-state: ‘The nation-state Fukuyama speaks of acts as the guardian of global capital and removes troubles caused by the globalization of capital as well.’
In Fukuyama’s next chapter ‘Weak States and International Legitimacy,’ there’s a warning for us all: ‘Since the end of the Cold War, weak or failing states have arguably become the single most important problem for international order. Weak or failing states commit human rights abuses, provoke humanitarian disasters, drive massive waves of immigration, and attack their neighbors. Since September 11, it also has become clear that they shelter international terrorists who can do significant damage to the US and other developed countries.’
Fukuyama argues that Somalia, Haiti, Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Western Timor are examples of such states.
Considering that Afghanistan was ruled by the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and Iraq by a dictator, the US had to review its foreign policy, and decided to create a new world order in which weak states could govern themselves or put the blame on the rest of the world in case of failure. Fukuyama has named this prospect ‘The New Empire.’
The US judges it necessary to destroy weak states deemed dangerous to the developed world and build new nation-states to replace them. But Fukuyama argues that the US government doesn’t possess the necessary skills to rebuild states. Therefore, state building is also necessary for the US, as well as weak Third World countries.
Is Fukuyama trying to tell us that the US is eventually going to create (or has already created) a Frankenstein in Iraq?