Federalism

Abstract

The title of this session, Rebuilding Nation-Building, suggests another necessary distinction-between nation-building and nationmaintaining. It is not enough to build a nation if the nation cannot be maintained. Today, enormous centrifugal pressures are tending to fracture nations. Russia is a particularly important example; Iraq is another. Although we talk about whether and how the new state of Iraq can be built, the reality is that there are at least three nations within Iraq-the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds-that must somehow be contained and integrated in a very creative way, about which Chibli Mallat will surely have more to say. The trick, then, is not just building a state in Afghanistan or Iraq, but maintaining it.