In this study, Professor Raymond Millen has identified a persistent challenge in U.S. efforts to provide effective security cooperation and capacity building with fragile and failing states – the realm of ministerial advising. From his research and analysis, Professor Millen concludes by recommending the establishment of a professional ministerial corps. Read more...

The activities of private companies in combat operations and complex environments have traditionally drawn minimal attention when compared to their historic presence in such settings yet in the last twenty years the services of these companies have grown to become a seemingly indispensable part of the modern western stabilization arsenal, as well as the subject of much media attention. Read more...

This paper Operationalizing R2P: An Integrated Approach for the Responsibility to Protect discusses the two prominent frameworks for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which refers to the obligation of states toward their populations and toward all populations at risk of genocide and other mass atrocity crimes. The 2001 R2P report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty presented three phases for R2P (prevent, react, rebuild). Subsequently, the United Nations articulated R2P in three pillars (state responsibility to protect, international responsibility to assist a state, and international responsibility to act when a state is unwilling or unable to do so). Read more...

Foreign assistance in policing is not a new phenomenon, but often we fail to consider the past, while planning for the future. Since 1989, the role of the US in several stability operations has increased, such as: Panama (1989), Somalia (1992), Haiti (1994, 2004), Bosnia (1995), Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and Iraq (2003). Additionally, US military and civilian organizations have been used to rebuild military and police forces and to provide logistics to international forces (El Salvador, 1991; East Timor, 1999). With the intention of avoiding past mistakes in future stability activities, we have endeavored to capture the lessons from Vietnam policing development. Read more...

Death by a Thousand Cuts explores the application of national reconciliation programs to undermine insurgencies from within and lay the groundwork for stability in the post-conflict period. Dr. Raymond A. Millen presents three case studies—Malaya, South Vietnam, and Iraq—for his examination of national reconciliation programs. Such programs have received little attention after the Vietnam conflict, so this study provides insights of particular interest for US assistance to countries suffering from an insurgency. Read more...

Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs represent a major challenge for practitioners because they require meticulous planning, extensive resources, and an extended period of time. While the US military theoretically possesses the organization, planning capacity, resources, and funding to implement DDR, assuming this responsibility unassisted would be an inferior strategy. Read more...

The Protection of Civilians (PoC) Military Reference Guide is primarily intended for military commanders and staffs who must consider PoC during armed conflict, multidimensional peace operations, or other military operations, particularly when PoC is an operational or strategic objective. It is designed as a supplement to existing doctrine and other relevant guidance so that military forces can meet their obligations to protect civilians. The reference guide may also be used as a textbook for PoC training. Read more...

The case studies and analyses in this volume make clear that understanding the dynamics associated with illicit power and state weakness is essential to preventing or resolving armed conflict. These case studies also point out that confronting illicit power requires coping with political and human dynamics in complex, uncertain environments. People fight today for the same fundamental reasons the Greek historian Thucydides identified nearly 2,500 years ago: fear, honor and interests.By Edited by Michael Miklaucic and Michelle Hughes Read more...

This publication updates the Institute’s highly successful Guide to IGOs, NGOs, and the Military in Peace and Relief Operations, which was based on peace operations in the Balkans following the Cold War. This edition reflects the operations that have occurred since 2000, particularly those in Iraq and Afghanistan and the response to the 2004 Asian tsunami. Its purpose is to help military and civilian personnel understand peace, stability, and relief operations so they can work more effectively. Read more...

This guide focuses on the military’s role in rebuilding and establishing a functional, effective, and legitimate nation-state; one that can assure security and stability for its citizens, defend its borders, deliver services effectively for its populace, and is responsible and accountable to its citizens. Neither a handbook nor a checklist, the document provides a comprehensive approach to planning and implementing a program to rebuild governance by U.S. peacekeeping forces during stability operations. Read more...