Once nations were forged by “blood and iron”. Today, the world seeks to build them through conflict resolution, multilateral aid, and free elections. This more civilized approach has not yielded many successes. For nation building to work, some harsh compromises are necessary, including military coercion and the recognition that democracy is not always a realistic goal. Ms. Marina Ottaway will discuss some common misconceptions about nation building, such as nation building is a recent idea, only war builds nations, and the goal of nation building is a democratic state.