Resilient Nations: Why and How Have Some Remained Independent?

Few countries have remained independent over the last 600 years, centuries wherein waves of imperialist ambition, colonialism and conquest occurred. Many books have sought to understand why and how these expansions occurred, focusing attention on the expansionist countries. None have turned that question around, seeking answers to why and how some nations remained independent or retained greater degrees of sovereignty. There are histories of such countries, wherein this question has been asked as part of a broader country-specific historical analysis. Those efforts have identified or proposed traits and factors to explain the continuity of (complete or high degrees of) independence. Such studies have noted the role of environmental, social, political and/or external factors. This book presents full chapters on six such countries, with an additional two countries added in brief, enabling comparisons and contrasts to better understand how state resilience can be strengthened. This introductory chapter, and the broader book within which it resides, contributes to a literature that seeks to reorient the focus, from the expansionist to the defiant and resilient, covering Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iran, Japan and Thailand. This introductory chapter presents some of the key terminology used in the book, analyzes which countries could or should be included in such a collection, and reviews some of the highlights of the chapters of the book.