Nowadays, we have witnessed a couple of military conflicts. The most recent is the civil war in Syria and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I want to leave the details as we, as a global society, have heard all possible theories, explanations, information, and misinformation. I want to focus on the baseline of rebuilding a country after a military conflict, regardless of the historical time and geographical placement of these types of tragic events. What should a post-war nation do first?
Post-war Baseline
War, specifically civil war, is one of the deadliest destroyers of countries. This is a fact, but let's focus on the aftermath of a military conflict. Once a war is over, the country faces the challenge of rebuilding after the devastating effects. Many aspects, including healthcare, housing, education, the military and the government, will be broken and could cause the fall of a civilised system. Reconstructing these will considerably cost the country's economy as they are the significant elements that make up a country. This is why, once a country begins to rebuild itself, it must consider all these things and prioritise a specific thing over everything else. If I had the power to choose one thing to rebuild first, I would choose the government. The proper government is crucial to the process of rebuilding a country.
Rebuilding the government first would allow the country to regain stability and bring structure to the system. To succeed in those endeavours, you need experienced, knowledgeable, and honest people to be placed in power. The question is, how can this be achieved? Thus, firstly a democratic election should take place to select someone to govern the country. Citizens must vote for candidates from different political parties; the winning party will lead and organise the country. Then, the government can also choose ministers to govern and manage healthcare, education, economy and distribute money to rebuild those sectors.
Moreover, rebuilding roads and buildings so citizens can commute and have shelters is the primary mean to bring stability and a sense of normality and safety so that every citizen can recover from all traumas related to war individually. Thus, getting accommodation, hospitals, schools, and transport will enable the trade of various goods, including international business, which is crucial in the post-war situation. This will endure the country's economic development that was destroyed by war.
New Government
However, one should be aware of risks, such as the chosen leader might not fulfil the promises made to people and can abuse their position of power for personal gratification. This may lead to betraying the trust of the public and may provoke citizens who may end up abolishing the government. This may shake the still fragile structure and sense of safety. Still, abolishing the government or leader does not mean the new one will improve. For example, looking back in history, when the Bolsheviks abolished the Czar (Tsar) and installed socialism and communism, which proved to be a failure after many years, and showed that although the ideas were great, the true nature of greed won. If you look around, regardless of the political system, even in socialism and communism, which had rotund ideas, those in the position of power abused power to protect their own privileged position and used their own supporters by instilling terror and many coercive methods to break the free spirit of people. So, although the people would have good intentions, like Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, in the long run, they similarly abused their power over previous authorities. Thus, the country must get a trustworthy government that can fulfil its job to the promised standards and serve the citizens, not the other way around. Also, the new leader should represent and work for the wishes and needs of those he works for, the nation.
Moreover, having a stable government would benefit a given nation in the short and long term. Therefore, if there are enough reasonable people in authority who can find short-term solutions such as temporary housing, e.g., tents, food and water, and healthcare, e.g., field hospitals will lead to steadily improving and rebuilding of the country in question. Furthermore, employing skilled workers who can effectively deal with the reconstruction of roads which connect points of departure with places affected by war is essential. In the long term, a healthy government can lead to a well-developed country with a stable military, economy, political and educational systems.
In conclusion, there are reasons why rebuilding the government should be the priority—bringing structure, organisation, and fundaments to rebuild the broken country and its nation. There must be a head to govern the limbs; however, how the limbs are handled depends on the given head's sanity, clarity, and agenda. Therefore, corruption and abuse of the position of power is always an option. However, the government is at the nation's service, so the nation can permanently abolish it. Still, a stable government is a basis for restoring a destroyed country.
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