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11 more protracted, so patience was the name of the game. But the most important thing was to prepare the ground by creating a culture, a sense of “togetherness”, and a story of a “common destiny” to eventually create an independent state. Often when you travel around, you learn from practitioners. This case was no exception. Being by trade a political scientist specialising in constitutions, I had not given this much thought. I realised I was wrong, and that creating a “story” was essential to preparing the ground for building a new state.

This is not a novel idea. In 1771, when the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was asked to write the constitution of Poland, he prefaced his ideas with a similar consideration and stressed that no country can be established without a common narrative:“You cannot possibly keep them [in this case the Russians] from swallowing you; see to it at least that they shall not be able to digest …