What We Owe Iraq – War and the Ethics of Nation Building - Softcover

Feldman, Noah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691126127 ISBN 13: 9780691126128

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2006

Synopsis

What do we owe Iraq?


America is up to its neck in nation building--but the public debate, focused on getting the troops home, devotes little attention to why we are building a new Iraqi nation, what success would look like, or what principles should guide us. What We Owe Iraq sets out to shift the terms of the debate, acknowledging that we are nation building to protect ourselves while demanding that we put the interests of the people being governed--whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, or elsewhere--ahead of our own when we exercise power over them.


Noah Feldman argues that to prevent nation building from turning into a paternalistic, colonialist charade, we urgently need a new, humbler approach. Nation builders should focus on providing security, without arrogantly claiming any special expertise in how successful nation-states should be made. Drawing on his personal experiences in Iraq as a constitutional adviser, Feldman offers enduring insights into the power dynamics between the American occupiers and the Iraqis, and tackles issues such as Iraqi elections, the prospect of successful democratization, and the way home.


Elections do not end the occupier's responsibility. Unless asked to leave, we must resist the temptation of a military pullout before a legitimately elected government can maintain order and govern effectively. But elections that create a legitimate democracy are also the only way a nation builder can put itself out of business and--eventually--send its troops home.


Feldman's new afterword brings the Iraq story up-to-date since the book's original publication in 2004, and asks whether the United States has acted ethically in pushing the political process in Iraq while failing to control the security situation; it also revisits the question of when, and how, to withdraw.

About this title

About the Author

Noah Feldman is Professor of Law at New York University and, in 2003, was Senior Constitutional Adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He is the author of "After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003).

From the Back Cover

"Noah Feldman is a rapidly rising star in the American intellectual firmament. This elegant set of essays showcases his keen intelligence and sweeping erudition. It illuminates America's mission in Iraq, and much more."--Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International, author of The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad.

"If you are wrestling with the question of why the United States is in Iraq, committed to the reconstruction of that troubled nation, there is no better place to start than with Noah Feldman's timely and thought-provoking new book. Deftly weaving his own experiences in the rebuilding of Iraq, political philosophy, constitutional law, and a broad perspective on American interests in the world, Feldman elevates the debate on this issue above the platitudes of the politicians."--Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution

"Intervening in another country and rebuilding its institutions after tyranny amounts to a moral promise. Noah Feldman's fine book is a lucid, passionate, and closely reasoned examination of what it means to try to keep that promise. There are plenty of books around that treat nation building as a technical or military exercise. This is the book that thinks through nation building as a moral challenge and an exercise in promise keeping."--Michael Ignatieff, Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University, author of The Lesser Evil

"A coherent, tightly argued, penetrating, timely, and provocative book. Noah Feldman provides both a clear-sighted discussion of constitutional aspects of nation building and a fascinating account of postwar Iraq."--G. John Ikenberry, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, author of The Nation State in Question

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691126127
• ISBN 13: 9780691126128
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176