NL-ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2002 M.T.I. Bollen R.V. Janssens H.F.M. Kirkels J.L.M. Soeters [eds.] Civil-Military Cooperation A Marriage of Reason The image on the cover of this edition of NL-ARMS is a fragment from The Marriage Contract (about 1743), the first of a series of satirical paintings about the upper echelons of society, called ‘Marriage A-la Mode’, by William Hogarth (1697-1764). The lack of mutual attraction, or even interest, by the prospective bride and groom, back to back almost, is apparent. NL-ARMS is published under the auspices of the Dean of the Royal Netherlands Military Academy. For more information about NL-ARMS and/or additional copies contact the editors, or the Academy Research Centre of the Royal NL Military Academy (KMA), at the address below: Royal Netherlands Military Academy (KMA) - Academy Research Centre P.O. Box 90.002 4800 PA Breda phone: +31 76.5273319 fax: +31 76.5273322 NL-ARMS 1997 The Bosnian Experience - J.L.M. Soeters, J.H. Rovers [eds.] 1998 The Commander’s Responsibility in Difficult Circumstances - A.L.W. Vogelaar, K.F. Muusse, J.H. Rovers [eds.] 1999 Information Operations - J.M.J. Bosch, H.A.M. Luiijf, A.R. Mollema [eds.] 2000 Information in Context - H.P.M. Jägers, H.F.M. Kirkels, M.V. Metselaar, G.C.A. Steenbakkers [eds.] 2001 issued together with Volume 2000 2002 Civil-Military Cooperation: A Marriage of Reason - M.T.I. Bollen, R.V. Janssens, H.F.M. Kirkels, J.L.M. Soeters [eds.] Printed and bound by: Haveka BV, Alblasserdam, NL ISSN: 0166-9982 Contents Page 1. Civil-Military Cooperation [CIMIC]: Introduction 1 - J. Soeters, H. Kirkels 2. CIMIC since 1945: Historical, Political, and Operational Contexts 5 - R. Janssens, G. Teitler 3. On the Conditions for CIMIC during Humanitarian Operations 19 - M. Bollen, R. Beeres 4. Viable Cooperation in Civil-Military Relationships 31 - R. Beeres, M. Bollen 5. Strange Bedfellows: NGOs and the Military in Humanitarian Crises 49 - D. Winslow 6. CIMIC from the Aid Organisations’ Perspective 65 - W. de Wolf 7. An active Dutch CIMIC Policy is not a bridge too far 73 - H. Rappard 8. The Dutch Battalion in Bosnia-Herzegovina and CIMIC Projects 95 in the period 1996-2002 - C. Homan 9. CIMIC in an SFOR Peace Support Operation in Bosnia 107 - A. Oostendorp 10. CIMIC in the Early Phases of the KFOR Mission in Kosovo 117 - A. van Loon 11. CIMIC from the Point of View of NECBAT-UNMEE: 129 No Peacekeeping without Peacebuilding - J. Rijken 12. Disaster Assistance Response Teams 141 - A. van den Boogaard 13. Epilogue: CIMIC as Complex International Military-Civilian 153 Intervention for Conflict Solution and Relief - R. Janssens * About the authors 159 i ii Civil-Military Cooperation: Introduction [ NL-ARMS, 2002: Chapter 1 ] J. Soeters, H. Kirkels In August 2002 the eastern part of Germany and major regions of the Czech Republic were swept by heavy rainfalls. Villages and splendid cities like Prague and Dresden were flooded, people had to be evacuated and roads, houses as well as objects of historical value were seriously damaged. In order to control the situation and prevent even more mishap, ordinarycitizens and soldiers worked frantically side by side to fortify the banks of the swollen rivers, and military engineers provided resources for the evacuation of people. If ever there had been problems between ordinary citizens and the military, these were certainly absent in this crisis situation. This collaboration can rightly be called an elementary form of civil-military cooperation. Forthe military, it certainly is an ‘operation other than war’, and seen from this perspective itdoes not look like the military's core business. However, this type of military action seems to become increasingly important. Modern societies tend to become 'risk societies' due to large-scale technology use and environmental developments, and as a result they areincreasingly confronted with unexpected, large-scale problems which exceed the coping capacities of ordinary civil institutions. In these situations the military are requested to come out of their garrisons and help fight the problems. The military are generally willing to respond positively to these requests because doing so adds to their legitimacy in society. In the Netherlands as well, the military participated in a fight against the water (1995), and they have only recently been involved in actions to control the outburst of animal epidemics, such as pig's fever and foot and mouth disease. Nonetheless, this type of action is not really representative of what could be called ‘civil-military cooperation’, or CIMIC in military argot. CIMIC refers to collaboration between the military and civil organisations in specific circumstances: during a (civil) war, immediately after a conflict, or as relief in humanitarian disaster. CIMIC nowadays usually deals with ‘host nation support’ and ‘post-conflict society building’, often in so-called 'failed states', and as such it has become an essential element of Peace Support Operations (PSOs). These have taken place and are still taking place all over the world, most notably in Europe, in the Balkans but also elsewhere, for instance, in Africa, Central-America and in the Far East. CIMIC and PSOs help to strengthen the reputation of the military in western societies, because they are in concordance with moral and idealistic motives among the general public. In today's concepts CIMIC is a one-sided relation: the military are requested to make their resources available to civilian organisations and authorities, not the other way round. More often than not, the central coordination of the operations does not lie with the military, whose task is supportive and not initiating. Besides, CIMIC – indeed, virtually all military action - is supposed to be available only for a limited period. In the beginning parties tend to be enthusiastic about each other's contributions, but that enthusiasm quickly ebbs away (Bollen, 2002). At the climax of a crisis, Non-Govern- mental Organizations (NGOs) and local authorities tend to welcome the military manpower, logistic and construction resources. Once the first hectic phase is over, however, the various parties tend to feel somewhat less comfortable with the situation and each other: everybody will feel the need to protect their own domain and independent identity and to secure their own turf (Bos, 2003). Even in stable situations, where the military is only doing good (reconstructing schools, repairing hospitals, building bridges), the recipients, mostly local authorities, will carefully watch the conditions under which the work is done. 1 It is this rather troublesome, at times even torturous, relationship that is the main object of study in the present volume of the Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies (NL- ARMS). It is troublesome since the parties partaking in this relationship are, to put it mildly, not naturally drawn towards each other. They do not know each other well and they sense that their organisational cultures are at loggerheads with each other. At times even, they harbour suspicions about each other's objectives. Yet, the circumstances are such that they force themselves to work together in order to alleviate the needs of a civilian population that is often completely dependent on their aid. Needless to say, the cooperation is often anything but smooth; after all, unknown is unloved. Pooling resources is inevitable in certain circumstances, and in those situations all parties involved see the synergetic effects of their collaboration. Under certain conditions, pooling resources leads to profit for all, as an axiom from network theory says. But even so, everybody tends to carefully watch his or her own vested interests. It is because of this phenomenon that the title of the present volume of the NL-ARMS is 'CIMIC - A Marriage of Reason'. Without stretching things too far, it is possible to liken the civil- military cooperation to the nineteenth century 'marriage of reason', in which an affection for the partner in wedlock was of secondary importance, the main purpose of the alliance being to secure the family's fortune or estate, usually by producing (male) offspring. This analogy is certainly implicitly and explicitly recognised by many of the authors in this volume in their use of metaphor. Thus, the intriguing title of Bollen's doctoral dissertation ('Working Apart Together'-a clear reference to a LAT-relationship), which forms the basis of the two articles by Beeres and Bollen, refers to the situation in which two parties need each other's resources, but want to preserve their own domain, autonomy and working style. Winslow even uses the term 'strange bedfellows' to indicate the awkwardness of a relationship in which no love is lost. In this 2002 issue of NL-ARMS we have put together a collection of papers on civil-military cooperation. The focus is on recent experiences of the Dutch military, but one paper explicitly deals with the armed forces of another nation, i.e. the Canadians. Obviously, the international dimension has not been forgotten in the majority of the chapters. We have tried to recruit writers from academia as well as military commanders with 'hands on'- experiences, people from within the military and well-informed 'outsiders', who represent the civil part of CIMIC. We start with a historical overview of CIMIC operations since 1945, by Janssens and Teitler. They deal with the development of CIMIC in World War II and its aftermath, during the operations in the decolonisation era, up to the current post-Cold War activities in the context of PSOs. Their contribution clearly demonstrates that the content and form of CIMIC has drastically changed over the past half-century. They also give us a first impression of the problems that people working in CIMIC operations may have to deal with.