ABSTRACT
In chapter 2, I investigated the discourses about nation and state and concluded that in today’s globalizing world the intertwined reality of both must be the starting point. I took position in the constructivist scientific discourse, which considers nations, even if they revert to history for identification, as social constructs open to change over time. In chapter 3, I investigated the recent concept of fragility and chose to align myself with the definition of this concept as framed by fragile states themselves, acknowledging the challenges and problems without a judgmental bias. I pointed at the fact that also in the definition used by fragile states the attention for the sociocultural issues of belonging and identity remain too limited. Based on the above, this chapter explores the concepts of nation-building and state-building, the relationship between the two, and the urgency of nation-building for fragile states.
