{"id":125337,"date":"2012-12-10T10:23:35","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T15:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=125337"},"modified":"2012-12-10T10:23:35","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T15:23:35","slug":"how-to-build-a-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/12\/how-to-build-a-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to build a nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tHow to build a nation\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tAlvin Powell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tTo succeed, Fukuyama says, a national identity must be forged from within\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

Building a new nation can only be done from within, one of America\u2019s top political intellectuals said Thursday, a reality that he said explains the bloody obstacles the United States has encountered in its efforts to create new, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Francis Fukuyama<\/a>, who in 1992 famously predicted \u201cthe end of history\u201d because liberal democracies and free market economies suggested an endpoint in the evolution of government, said that external forces can erect the skeleton of state in an embattled country, creating police forces, administrative structures, and taxing authorities. But nation-building goes further and involves a shared sense of national identity, built on elements that tie people together \u2014 such as shared culture, language, and history \u2014 that cannot be imposed from without.<\/p>\n

Fukuyama provided an overview in which he said large, diverse nations have a harder row to hoe in creating national identities. Nigeria is an example where little effort has been expended on nation-building, with resulting dysfunction and inter-group violence, while the United States is an example of a diverse nation where people feel a sense of national identity not because of shared ethnicity or longstanding cultural history, but because of a shared set of ideals.<\/p>\n

Fukuyama spoke at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies<\/a> in a kickoff session for a two-day workshop focused on European national identities, organized with the Grundtvig Centre at Aarhus University<\/a> in Denmark.<\/p>\n

Professor of Government Grzegorz Ekiert<\/a>, the Center for European Studies\u2019 director, introduced Fukuyama, describing him as one of the nation\u2019s leading public intellectuals over the past 20 years and the author of nine books, including 1992\u2019s \u201cThe End of History and the Last Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fukuyama, the Nomellini Senior Fellow in Stanford University\u2019s Spogli Institute for International Studies<\/a>, described several ways that national identities have been constructed, including by moving borders, changing populations, and assimilating people culturally.<\/p>\n

He used the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation as an example of changing borders to forge a national identity. The idea of creating a \u201cSoviet Man,\u201d once fostered by the U.S.S.R.\u2019s leaders, never really took hold. In the discussions of what a post-Soviet Russia should look like, the idea that resonated most with people was a \u201csmall Russia\u201d vision, in which Russians focused on home and stopped spending manpower and treasure in other places.<\/p>\n

Changing populations has also been used to forge national identities, sometimes through inhumane means. The ethnic cleansing campaigns that marked the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s are examples, as is the expansion of the ethnic Han from their original home in northern China to their current domination of the nation. The shuffling of populations after World War II, Fukuyama said, is a big factor in the stability of today\u2019s Europe.<\/p>\n

Independent cultures across Indonesia\u2019s 11,000 islands and Tanzania\u2019s many tribal groups were assimilated into a national identity forged by authoritarian governments. A common language was required to be taught in all schools, a key factor in building a national identity. Fukuyama contrasted those nations with Nigeria and Kenya, where nation-building efforts were not applied with a strong hand and where inter-group violence has been a problem.<\/p>\n

Another important factor in forging national identities is \u201chistorical amnesia,\u201d Fukuyama said. He cited the political theorist Machiavelli in saying that many of today\u2019s stable nations have their roots in an \u201coriginal crime,\u201d a violent event such as the Swiss civil war, the partition of India and Pakistan, or the subjugation of native people in the United States. In Denmark, he said, it was German leader Otto von Bismarck\u2019s crime \u2014 taking German-speaking provinces from Denmark by force in 1864 \u2014 that left behind a Danish-speaking nation where forging a national identity among a people sharing a common language and culture was relatively easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Machiavelli] says all just enterprises originate in an original crime \u2026 I think this is much truer than we would like to admit,\u201d Fukuyama said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that liberal democracies \u2026 are any less good as democracies, but it also shouldn\u2019t allow us to forget that they started in an original crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the structures of state can be created by outsiders, national identities can only be created from within, and they commonly arise through shared language, culture, history, and ideals, political theorist Francis Fukuyama says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":125397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":44,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2022-05-16 11:39","document_color_palette":null,"author":"Alvin Powell","affiliation":"Harvard Staff 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class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tAlvin Powell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2012-12-10\">\n\t\t\tDecember 10, 2012\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t4 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tTo succeed, Fukuyama says, a national identity must be forged from within\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>Building a new nation can only be done from within, one of America\u2019s top political intellectuals said Thursday, a reality that he said explains the bloody obstacles the United States has encountered in its efforts to create new, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/people\/fukuyama\">Francis Fukuyama<\/a>, who in 1992 famously predicted \u201cthe end of history\u201d because liberal democracies and free market economies suggested an endpoint in the evolution of government, said that external forces can erect the skeleton of state in an embattled country, creating police forces, administrative structures, and taxing authorities. But nation-building goes further and involves a shared sense of national identity, built on elements that tie people together \u2014 such as shared culture, language, and history \u2014 that cannot be imposed from without.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama provided an overview in which he said large, diverse nations have a harder row to hoe in creating national identities. Nigeria is an example where little effort has been expended on nation-building, with resulting dysfunction and inter-group violence, while the United States is an example of a diverse nation where people feel a sense of national identity not because of shared ethnicity or longstanding cultural history, but because of a shared set of ideals.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama spoke at the <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies<\/a> in a kickoff session for a two-day workshop focused on European national identities, organized with the Grundtvig Centre at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.au.dk\/en\/\">Aarhus University<\/a> in Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>Professor of Government <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/#\/people\/profile\/ekiert\">Grzegorz Ekiert<\/a>, the Center for European Studies\u2019 director, introduced Fukuyama, describing him as one of the nation\u2019s leading public intellectuals over the past 20 years and the author of nine books, including 1992\u2019s \u201cThe End of History and the Last Man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama, the Nomellini Senior Fellow in <a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/\">Stanford University\u2019s Spogli Institute for International Studies<\/a>, described several ways that national identities have been constructed, including by moving borders, changing populations, and assimilating people culturally.<\/p>\n<p>He used the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation as an example of changing borders to forge a national identity. The idea of creating a \u201cSoviet Man,\u201d once fostered by the U.S.S.R.\u2019s leaders, never really took hold. In the discussions of what a post-Soviet Russia should look like, the idea that resonated most with people was a \u201csmall Russia\u201d vision, in which Russians focused on home and stopped spending manpower and treasure in other places.<\/p>\n<p>Changing populations has also been used to forge national identities, sometimes through inhumane means. The ethnic cleansing campaigns that marked the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s are examples, as is the expansion of the ethnic Han from their original home in northern China to their current domination of the nation. The shuffling of populations after World War II, Fukuyama said, is a big factor in the stability of today\u2019s Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Independent cultures across Indonesia\u2019s 11,000 islands and Tanzania\u2019s many tribal groups were assimilated into a national identity forged by authoritarian governments. A common language was required to be taught in all schools, a key factor in building a national identity. Fukuyama contrasted those nations with Nigeria and Kenya, where nation-building efforts were not applied with a strong hand and where inter-group violence has been a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Another important factor in forging national identities is \u201chistorical amnesia,\u201d Fukuyama said. He cited the political theorist Machiavelli in saying that many of today\u2019s stable nations have their roots in an \u201coriginal crime,\u201d a violent event such as the Swiss civil war, the partition of India and Pakistan, or the subjugation of native people in the United States. In Denmark, he said, it was German leader Otto von Bismarck\u2019s crime \u2014 taking German-speaking provinces from Denmark by force in 1864 \u2014 that left behind a Danish-speaking nation where forging a national identity among a people sharing a common language and culture was relatively easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe [Machiavelli] says all just enterprises originate in an original crime \u2026 I think this is much truer than we would like to admit,\u201d Fukuyama said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that liberal democracies \u2026 are any less good as democracies, but it also shouldn\u2019t allow us to forget that they started in an original crime.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>Building a new nation can only be done from within, one of America\u2019s top political intellectuals said Thursday, a reality that he said explains the bloody obstacles the United States has encountered in its efforts to create new, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/people\/fukuyama\">Francis Fukuyama<\/a>, who in 1992 famously predicted \u201cthe end of history\u201d because liberal democracies and free market economies suggested an endpoint in the evolution of government, said that external forces can erect the skeleton of state in an embattled country, creating police forces, administrative structures, and taxing authorities. But nation-building goes further and involves a shared sense of national identity, built on elements that tie people together \u2014 such as shared culture, language, and history \u2014 that cannot be imposed from without.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama provided an overview in which he said large, diverse nations have a harder row to hoe in creating national identities. Nigeria is an example where little effort has been expended on nation-building, with resulting dysfunction and inter-group violence, while the United States is an example of a diverse nation where people feel a sense of national identity not because of shared ethnicity or longstanding cultural history, but because of a shared set of ideals.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama spoke at the <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies<\/a> in a kickoff session for a two-day workshop focused on European national identities, organized with the Grundtvig Centre at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.au.dk\/en\/\">Aarhus University<\/a> in Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>Professor of Government <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/#\/people\/profile\/ekiert\">Grzegorz Ekiert<\/a>, the Center for European Studies\u2019 director, introduced Fukuyama, describing him as one of the nation\u2019s leading public intellectuals over the past 20 years and the author of nine books, including 1992\u2019s \u201cThe End of History and the Last Man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama, the Nomellini Senior Fellow in <a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/\">Stanford University\u2019s Spogli Institute for International Studies<\/a>, described several ways that national identities have been constructed, including by moving borders, changing populations, and assimilating people culturally.<\/p>\n<p>He used the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation as an example of changing borders to forge a national identity. The idea of creating a \u201cSoviet Man,\u201d once fostered by the U.S.S.R.\u2019s leaders, never really took hold. In the discussions of what a post-Soviet Russia should look like, the idea that resonated most with people was a \u201csmall Russia\u201d vision, in which Russians focused on home and stopped spending manpower and treasure in other places.<\/p>\n<p>Changing populations has also been used to forge national identities, sometimes through inhumane means. The ethnic cleansing campaigns that marked the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s are examples, as is the expansion of the ethnic Han from their original home in northern China to their current domination of the nation. The shuffling of populations after World War II, Fukuyama said, is a big factor in the stability of today\u2019s Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Independent cultures across Indonesia\u2019s 11,000 islands and Tanzania\u2019s many tribal groups were assimilated into a national identity forged by authoritarian governments. A common language was required to be taught in all schools, a key factor in building a national identity. Fukuyama contrasted those nations with Nigeria and Kenya, where nation-building efforts were not applied with a strong hand and where inter-group violence has been a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Another important factor in forging national identities is \u201chistorical amnesia,\u201d Fukuyama said. He cited the political theorist Machiavelli in saying that many of today\u2019s stable nations have their roots in an \u201coriginal crime,\u201d a violent event such as the Swiss civil war, the partition of India and Pakistan, or the subjugation of native people in the United States. In Denmark, he said, it was German leader Otto von Bismarck\u2019s crime \u2014 taking German-speaking provinces from Denmark by force in 1864 \u2014 that left behind a Danish-speaking nation where forging a national identity among a people sharing a common language and culture was relatively easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe [Machiavelli] says all just enterprises originate in an original crime \u2026 I think this is much truer than we would like to admit,\u201d Fukuyama said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that liberal democracies \u2026 are any less good as democracies, but it also shouldn\u2019t allow us to forget that they started in an original crime.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>Building a new nation can only be done from within, one of America\u2019s top political intellectuals said Thursday, a reality that he said explains the bloody obstacles the United States has encountered in its efforts to create new, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/people\/fukuyama\">Francis Fukuyama<\/a>, who in 1992 famously predicted \u201cthe end of history\u201d because liberal democracies and free market economies suggested an endpoint in the evolution of government, said that external forces can erect the skeleton of state in an embattled country, creating police forces, administrative structures, and taxing authorities. But nation-building goes further and involves a shared sense of national identity, built on elements that tie people together \u2014 such as shared culture, language, and history \u2014 that cannot be imposed from without.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama provided an overview in which he said large, diverse nations have a harder row to hoe in creating national identities. Nigeria is an example where little effort has been expended on nation-building, with resulting dysfunction and inter-group violence, while the United States is an example of a diverse nation where people feel a sense of national identity not because of shared ethnicity or longstanding cultural history, but because of a shared set of ideals.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama spoke at the <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies<\/a> in a kickoff session for a two-day workshop focused on European national identities, organized with the Grundtvig Centre at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.au.dk\/en\/\">Aarhus University<\/a> in Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>Professor of Government <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/#\/people\/profile\/ekiert\">Grzegorz Ekiert<\/a>, the Center for European Studies\u2019 director, introduced Fukuyama, describing him as one of the nation\u2019s leading public intellectuals over the past 20 years and the author of nine books, including 1992\u2019s \u201cThe End of History and the Last Man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama, the Nomellini Senior Fellow in <a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/\">Stanford University\u2019s Spogli Institute for International Studies<\/a>, described several ways that national identities have been constructed, including by moving borders, changing populations, and assimilating people culturally.<\/p>\n<p>He used the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation as an example of changing borders to forge a national identity. The idea of creating a \u201cSoviet Man,\u201d once fostered by the U.S.S.R.\u2019s leaders, never really took hold. In the discussions of what a post-Soviet Russia should look like, the idea that resonated most with people was a \u201csmall Russia\u201d vision, in which Russians focused on home and stopped spending manpower and treasure in other places.<\/p>\n<p>Changing populations has also been used to forge national identities, sometimes through inhumane means. The ethnic cleansing campaigns that marked the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s are examples, as is the expansion of the ethnic Han from their original home in northern China to their current domination of the nation. The shuffling of populations after World War II, Fukuyama said, is a big factor in the stability of today\u2019s Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Independent cultures across Indonesia\u2019s 11,000 islands and Tanzania\u2019s many tribal groups were assimilated into a national identity forged by authoritarian governments. A common language was required to be taught in all schools, a key factor in building a national identity. Fukuyama contrasted those nations with Nigeria and Kenya, where nation-building efforts were not applied with a strong hand and where inter-group violence has been a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Another important factor in forging national identities is \u201chistorical amnesia,\u201d Fukuyama said. He cited the political theorist Machiavelli in saying that many of today\u2019s stable nations have their roots in an \u201coriginal crime,\u201d a violent event such as the Swiss civil war, the partition of India and Pakistan, or the subjugation of native people in the United States. In Denmark, he said, it was German leader Otto von Bismarck\u2019s crime \u2014 taking German-speaking provinces from Denmark by force in 1864 \u2014 that left behind a Danish-speaking nation where forging a national identity among a people sharing a common language and culture was relatively easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe [Machiavelli] says all just enterprises originate in an original crime \u2026 I think this is much truer than we would like to admit,\u201d Fukuyama said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that liberal democracies \u2026 are any less good as democracies, but it also shouldn\u2019t allow us to forget that they started in an original crime.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>Building a new nation can only be done from within, one of America\u2019s top political intellectuals said Thursday, a reality that he said explains the bloody obstacles the United States has encountered in its efforts to create new, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/people\/fukuyama\">Francis Fukuyama<\/a>, who in 1992 famously predicted \u201cthe end of history\u201d because liberal democracies and free market economies suggested an endpoint in the evolution of government, said that external forces can erect the skeleton of state in an embattled country, creating police forces, administrative structures, and taxing authorities. But nation-building goes further and involves a shared sense of national identity, built on elements that tie people together \u2014 such as shared culture, language, and history \u2014 that cannot be imposed from without.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama provided an overview in which he said large, diverse nations have a harder row to hoe in creating national identities. Nigeria is an example where little effort has been expended on nation-building, with resulting dysfunction and inter-group violence, while the United States is an example of a diverse nation where people feel a sense of national identity not because of shared ethnicity or longstanding cultural history, but because of a shared set of ideals.<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama spoke at the <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/\">Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies<\/a> in a kickoff session for a two-day workshop focused on European national identities, organized with the Grundtvig Centre at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.au.dk\/en\/\">Aarhus University<\/a> in Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>Professor of Government <a href=\"https:\/\/ces.fas.harvard.edu\/#\/people\/profile\/ekiert\">Grzegorz Ekiert<\/a>, the Center for European Studies\u2019 director, introduced Fukuyama, describing him as one of the nation\u2019s leading public intellectuals over the past 20 years and the author of nine books, including 1992\u2019s \u201cThe End of History and the Last Man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fukuyama, the Nomellini Senior Fellow in <a href=\"http:\/\/fsi.stanford.edu\/\">Stanford University\u2019s Spogli Institute for International Studies<\/a>, described several ways that national identities have been constructed, including by moving borders, changing populations, and assimilating people culturally.<\/p>\n<p>He used the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Russian Federation as an example of changing borders to forge a national identity. The idea of creating a \u201cSoviet Man,\u201d once fostered by the U.S.S.R.\u2019s leaders, never really took hold. In the discussions of what a post-Soviet Russia should look like, the idea that resonated most with people was a \u201csmall Russia\u201d vision, in which Russians focused on home and stopped spending manpower and treasure in other places.<\/p>\n<p>Changing populations has also been used to forge national identities, sometimes through inhumane means. The ethnic cleansing campaigns that marked the fighting in the Balkans in the 1990s are examples, as is the expansion of the ethnic Han from their original home in northern China to their current domination of the nation. The shuffling of populations after World War II, Fukuyama said, is a big factor in the stability of today\u2019s Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Independent cultures across Indonesia\u2019s 11,000 islands and Tanzania\u2019s many tribal groups were assimilated into a national identity forged by authoritarian governments. A common language was required to be taught in all schools, a key factor in building a national identity. Fukuyama contrasted those nations with Nigeria and Kenya, where nation-building efforts were not applied with a strong hand and where inter-group violence has been a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Another important factor in forging national identities is \u201chistorical amnesia,\u201d Fukuyama said. He cited the political theorist Machiavelli in saying that many of today\u2019s stable nations have their roots in an \u201coriginal crime,\u201d a violent event such as the Swiss civil war, the partition of India and Pakistan, or the subjugation of native people in the United States. In Denmark, he said, it was German leader Otto von Bismarck\u2019s crime \u2014 taking German-speaking provinces from Denmark by force in 1864 \u2014 that left behind a Danish-speaking nation where forging a national identity among a people sharing a common language and culture was relatively easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe [Machiavelli] says all just enterprises originate in an original crime \u2026 I think this is much truer than we would like to admit,\u201d Fukuyama said. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that liberal democracies \u2026 are any less good as democracies, but it also shouldn\u2019t allow us to forget that they started in an original crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":183874,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2016\/05\/gsas-presents-centennial-medals-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":125337,"position":0},"title":"GSAS presents Centennial Medals","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On May 25, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences awarded the Centennial Medal to four alumni who have made extraordinary contributions to society. The medal, GSAS\u2019s highest honor, was first awarded in 1989 on the 100th anniversary of the School\u2019s founding.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/gsas_medalist_4tych_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/gsas_medalist_4tych_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/gsas_medalist_4tych_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":67930,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2010\/12\/giant-steps\/","url_meta":{"origin":125337,"position":1},"title":"Giant steps","author":"harvardgazette","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Scholars and editors debate and celebrate the legacy of their late mentor, Samuel P. Huntington.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/113010_huntington_sam_054_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/113010_huntington_sam_054_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/113010_huntington_sam_054_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":381970,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2024\/03\/why-democrats-republicans-who-appear-at-war-these-days-really-need-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":125337,"position":2},"title":"Why Democrats, Republicans, who appear at war these days, really need each other","author":"harvardgazette","date":"March 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Political philosopher Harvey C. Mansfield says it all goes back to Aristotle, balance of competing ideas about common good","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harvey C. 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