Think tank europe

The "soldier-diplomat" in Afghanistan and Iraq
08/10/2009
Author : Fundacion para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Dialogo Exterior (FRIDE - Spain)
By Edward Burke
 
The US and UK Armed Forces have learned the painful lessons of their limited engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion of both countries and are now prepared to assume wide-ranging humanitarian and reconstruction tasks. ‘Stabilisation’ by the military is crucial to the successful prosecution of any counterinsurgency campaign but has led to an inevitable encroachment upon ‘civilian’ responsibilities, the militarisation of aid and the emergence of a more political military.

The repercussions for civil-military relations are profound and poorly understood. Drawing upon recent field research in Iraq, this FRIDE paper argues that, while the military is often better placed to provide immediate relief in the most insecure environments, civilian supervision over stability operations must be asserted at every level to reverse the ‘creeping militarisation’ of foreign policy. To undertake this complex task will require the emergence of a civilian doctrine and an unconventional diplomat.

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Sunday, 12 February 2012
Europe's World - AUTUMN 2011 - #19
The Autumn 2011 issue of Europe's World is out!

We feel it's fair to say that few if any publications in the field of international relations and policy debate have grown as fast or widened their scope so remarkably as Europe's World.

Our 100,000 readers worldwide are drawn from politics, government, business, the media, universities and NGOs.
 
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