What examples can you list of long-term success at nation building via military invasion?

I dunno... I think the jury's still out on that one...

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by Amorphous Blob on September 25th, 2009

It was in 1066. How long is the jury gonna take?:)

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by josie III on September 25th, 2009

I'll allow it. :)

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 25th, 2009

Thanks.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 25th, 2009

That's not nation building, it's invasion and occupation with suppression of the indigenous population. Same goes for Australia.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 25th, 2009

The same goes for all the other examples given - the Roman and British Empires (which weren't nations at all) and Britain after the English invaded Scotland (and Wales, of course).
 
As for Australia, the "suppression" of the indigenous population can hardly be said to have been on the scale or level of brutality that occurred in North America.

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by Brian I on September 26th, 2009

But the salient point is that as much as we talk today about invading this or that country and nation building, I can see no real evidence it has ever been done. Of course, there is probably a first time for everything. It we get very, very lucky, Iraq may come out well. But luck hasn't been on the US side in foreign policy now for quite a few decades.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 26th, 2009

Well... who ever shouted "timber" at that event must have a sore throat!

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by TomFluflu on September 26th, 2009

Ha! Great comment TomFleyFly

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 26th, 2009

That's more rebuilding than building. That doesn't count.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 25th, 2009

Perfectly valid (and great) examples... Jim don't be a cry baby just because you got more of an answer than you bargained for.
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Be a man or take of the coat!

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by TomFluflu on September 26th, 2009

Ha! No, I don't give up my manhood or my coat all that easily. :)
What I;m getting at is that both those nations had fully functioning governments before WWII. The US helped them get back on their feet after their loss in the war, and we forced a more democratic constitution on them, not that they objected all that strenuously. But the current (and rather recent) connotation of nation building, which I;m invoking in this question, is invading a nation-state with a long history of dysfunctional or brutal dictatorial government, and turning it into a working democracy.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 26th, 2009

Gotta take MY coat off to you Jim!
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But I do remember reading about japans' BIG objection to giving certain rights to woman... and germany had no functioning bureaucracy at all...

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by TomFluflu on September 27th, 2009

True. Japan is still quite misogynistic under the surface. But even though the Third Reich's bureaucracy was decimated, Germany had been a well functioning nation-state for a very long time and had a wealth of people with the knowledge of how to make the trains run on time.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 27th, 2009

the British empire still has some little bits left.

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by QueenR eats the Terminator for breakfast on September 25th, 2009

Yeah but it has no power in todays world

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by Ion on September 25th, 2009

maybe so, ithasn't fallen.
Plus, it does have some power. Permanent member of the UN security council for one.

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by QueenR eats the Terminator for breakfast on September 25th, 2009

Thanks, lon1776. That's my sense of it.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 25th, 2009

That't the only one I could think of that had some limited sense. Of course, Rome doesn't rule the world any longer. They eventually failed.

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 25th, 2009

Only took them a thousand years to fall.

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by Moongrim on September 26th, 2009

Much less than that to fall into serious decline. But you're quite right, they did do a good job. In an age where marauding bands of thugs raped and pillaged, Rome brought the states they invaded Pax Romana, road building technology, trade, water projects, baths, education...

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by Jim in a Nautilus COAT on September 26th, 2009