Nation Building

Historical Roots of Nation Building

The term nation building appeared in the political science literature in the 1950s as many nations were emerging from colonialism. The term was generally associated with building political institutions in a newly formed (or transformed) state. Nation building creates institutions that mediate the infrastructure demands of citizens for roads, schools, fire protection, and personal safety, with the political capabilities of the government. The creation of institutions such as political parties, nonpartisan professional organizations, and nongovernmental organizations supportive of effective government is essential for nation building.

Other less tangible conditions are necessary for a nation to grow and function. For instance, national identity and national unity are integral parts of the process. They are created through strategic communication, which fosters the creation of shared national symbols. A rhetorical national identity strategy can be defined as the conscious identification of a group of people with shared national goals. People often have many different identities—religious, ethnic, professional—that define who they are and what values they hold. Efforts to build national identity seek to create a loyalty to the nation that supersedes local or ethnic loyalties and helps a nation to maximize its development potential.

Communication campaigns create national identities that allow a nation's people to think and act together. Mediated communication channels act as relationship-building tools that bring citizens together and, in times of crisis or threats, can help to unify them. A national identity is a prerequisite to national unity and, therefore, must be part of the initial stages of nation building.

National unity refers to orientations about events and institutions that bring people together and enable them to cooperate to achieve national goals. National unity often appears when there is some kind of threat to a people who share common identifications. It creates a common ground that facilitates cooperative efforts for the benefit of the state. Creating and maintaining national unity is difficult in culturally diverse states where citizens do not already share a national vision or have common enemies and goals.

Examples of events in the United States that work to create shared identities and national unity include the following: Thanksgiving celebrations; remembrance ceremonies and holidays for war veterans; and public events of mourning such as what occurred as a result of the attacks on September 11, 2001, in which terrorists hijacked four planes, crashing two into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one into field in Pennsylvania. Every nation enacts ceremonies to celebrate religious, cultural, and social institutions as a means of building national unity.

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