The Foreign Service Journal, November 2006

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51 n July 2004, the State Department opened the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. The creation of the office, known as S/CRS, was inspired by a congressional resolution spearheaded by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The resolution sought to “provide for the development, as a core mission of the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development, of an effective expert civilian response capability to carry out stabilization and reconstruc- F O C U S O N F R A G I L E S T A T E S T HE C ASE A GAINST S TATE ’ S N ATIONBUILDING O FFICE T HE ARGUMENT THAT INSTABILITY IN ITSELF REPRESENTS A THREAT TO A MERICA AND THAT NATIONBUILDING MUST BE THE CURE IS DEEPLY FLAWED . B Y J USTIN L OGAN AND C HRISTOPHER P REBLE I Clemente Botelho