Home › Features › Responses › Après Louis, Hamid

Après Louis, Hamid

Can Afghan State Builders Learn From Louis XIV?
By Arjun Chowdhury and Ronald R. Krebs, James A. Nathan, and Sheri Berman
July/August 2010
Article Summary and Author Biography

Can Louis XIV's consolidation of power in seventeenth-century France guide the way for state builders in Afghanistan today? Sheri Berman defends her case.

Print Email
Login or Register to leave a comment.

Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com.
Comment
From the Sun King to Karzai
Sheri Berman

The United States hopes to create a strong central government in Afghanistan -- but is such state building possible? Yes, and policymakers should look to Louis XIV and the development of France's ancien régime for guidance.

THE AFGHAN CHALLENGE IS FAR TOUGHER

Arjun Chowdhury and Ronald R. Krebs

Sheri Berman identifies important parallels between the circumstances confronting state builders in Afghanistan today and those their counterparts faced in seventeenth-century France ("From the Sun King to Karzai," March/April 2010). But the differences between the two cases are as instructive as the similarities -- and point to rather different conclusions.

Berman's argument is plausible at first blush: just as French kings employed a combination of
coercion and inducements to subdue and disarm the nobles while enmeshing them in court pomp and intrigue, Afghan state builders can (with assistance from the United States and its partners) use force, aid, and patronage to bring warlords to heel while giving them a stake in the new order.

But Berman is wrong that "state building . . . can be accomplished almost anywhere" as long as the state builders are sufficiently patient and committed. Why? Because structure -- international and domestic -- matters, and the roots of France's seventeenth-century state-building success lie in three structural factors that distinguish the case from that of contemporary Afghanistan.

This is a premium article

You must be a logged in Foreign Affairs subscriber to continue reading. If you wish to continue reading this article please subscribe , or activate your online account to get full online access.

Related

Review Essay, Jul/Aug 2010
Veiled Truths
Marc Lynch

In The Flight of the Intellectuals, Paul Berman argues that it is not violent Islamists who pose the greatest danger to liberal societies in the West but rather their so-called moderate cousins, such as Tariq Ramadan. Such a reading of contemporary Islamism, however, misses the many nuances of the movement and the real battles between reformers and Salafists.

Read
Essay, Oct 1962
The German Problem, a World Problem
Konrad Adenauer

I write this article not long after my visit to France, where I spent seven eventful days of great political importance. One essential purpose of my visit was to demonstrate to the German and French peoples and, indeed, to the whole world that the reconciliation between the two neighboring peoples on both sides of the Rhine has now become a reality.

Read
Essay, Jul 1964
The French People and De Gaulle
Michel Gordey

What is the reaction of the French people to the politique de grandeur-the policy which, in the name of France, General de Gaulle is projecting on a world scale? Before this question can be answered we must first ask: How is French policy shaped and decided? Next, how is it made known to parliament and public opinion? Third, do the broad masses of the people have access to adequate and objective information on which to base their judgment of this policy? Only then can we turn to the question: What is their judgment?

Read