Tilburg University Stabilisation operations as complex systems - order and chaos in the interoperability continuum Gans, Ben DOI: 10.26116/center-lis-1916 Publication date: 2019 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Gans, B. (2019). Stabilisation operations as complex systems - order and chaos in the interoperability continuum. 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Download date: 29. sep. 2021 Stabilisation operations as complex systems order and chaos in the interoperability continuum 1 2 Stabilisation operations as complex systems order and chaos in the interoperability continuum PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan Tilburg University op gezag van prof. dr. G.M. Duijsters, als tijdelijk waarnemer van de functie rector magnificus en uit dien hoofde vervangend voorzitter van het college voor promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de Aula van de Universiteit op maandag 01 juli 2019, om 13.30 uur door Ben Gans geboren op 09 oktober 1981 te Utrecht 3 Promotor: Prof. Dr. P.M.A. Ribbers Copromotores: Prof. Dr. P.C. van Fenema Prof. Dr. Ir. S.J.H. Rietjens Overige leden van de promotiecommissie: Prof. Dr. M.T.I.B. Bollen Prof. Dr. J. Goedee Luitenant-generaal M.A. van der Laan, Adviseur Prof. Dr. J.M.M.L. Soeters Prof. Dr. H. Urdal De realisatie van dit proefschrift werd financieel mogelijk gemaakt door het Ministerie van Defensie en het Peace Research Institute Oslo. 4 “What matters is that it is your library, invested with your intellectual capital, and serves as a garden of the mind to which you can return again and again”. James G. Stavridis (2017) 5 6 Acknowledgments I am deeply honoured and grateful to have been given the opportunity to write this dissertation at Tilburg University, Netherlands Defence Academy and Research School on Peace and Conflict. Therefore I wish to acknowledge those who have supported me over the last six years. First, and foremost, I would like to start with expressing my respect and gratitude to my three supervisors Piet Ribbers, Paul van Fennema and Bas Rietjens. I am grateful for your continuous support and guidance and would like to thank you for your trust in my abilities and to make sure that I remained ‘on track’. I have enjoyed your support to the full and always left our meetings feeling that I might be able to complete the process successfully. I learned so much from working with you and I look forward to our continued cooperation. Secondly, I would like to express my respect to the members of the doctoral committee, Myriame Bollen, John Goedee, Michiel van der Laan, Sjo Soeters and Henrik Urdal, for your critical and highly valuable feedback. Your willingness to become a member of the doctoral committee and participation in the pre-defence added significantly more value to the final version of the manuscript. I am very much indebted to the people who were willing to participate in this study and who I interviewed for data collection. The members from the Task Force Uruzgan and UN MINUSMA have given me access to their spaces, network, knowledge, and provided me with great insights. The professionals I was honoured to meet throughout the last years have generously shared their time and thought during my fieldwork. I specifically would like to thank Jan Swillens: I could not be more grateful for your support during the initial and most critical phase of writing this dissertation, during which you were willing to provide me with access to your network. Spending nearly four years as a member at the Research School on Peace and Conflict has had a very positive impact on the quality of this dissertation. This membership was made possible by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, University of Oslo and Norwegian Institute for Science and Technology. Many thanks to Gregory Reichberg, Lynn Nygaard, Maral Mirshahi, Kristoffer Lidén and Marte Nilsen, who made me feel welcome, connected me to many great researchers, and made sure I could join interesting research seminars. Moreover, I had the honour to spend several months as a visiting researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. This stay was made possible by Henrik Urdal and Torunn Tryggestad, who offered me this wonderful opportunity. Elisabeth Rosvold, I could not have wished for a better office mate than you. Furthermore, I am particularly grateful to Cathrine Bye, who provided me with all the support I could wish for including a free membership to the PRIO running club. 7 Being a PhD student at Tilburg University, Netherlands Defence Academy and Research School on Peace and Conflict gave me the opportunity to write papers, build up a network of fellow researchers across universities and institutions and participate in research events. I want to thank Anne Rutkowski, Ank Habraken, Bob van Hees, Frans Osinga, Erik de Waard, Bianca Keers, Annkatrin Tritschoks and Anne- Kathrin Kreft for our collaboration during the last years. Writing this dissertation as a part-time PhD student would not have been possible without the continuous support of my daily line management. I am grateful to René van den Berg, Hans Seijkens, Sven de Bruijn and Erik Wegewijs for their trust in my ability to be successful. Finally, it is awkward to realise that the person who is most important to me is also the one who had to make the most sacrifices from me writing this dissertation: Lieve Maion, ik ben je eeuwig dankbaar voor al de ruimte die je mij in de afgelopen jaren hebt gegeven. Het was niet altijd even gemakkelijk. Dat besef ik mij al te zeer. Qua timing had deze promotie niet beter kunnen plaatsvinden. Met ons eerste kindje op komst wil ik niets liever dan mijn vrije tijd aan ons gezinnetje besteden. Ik houd super veel van je en ben onwijs trots op jou. Voor altijd samen! Ben Gans Venray, 21th April 2019 8 Table of contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................. 5 List of figures ...................................................................................................................... 10 List of tables ........................................................................................................................ 12 List of abbreviations............................................................................................................ 14 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 17 1.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................17 1.2 A systems view of stabilisation operations............................................................................................18 1.3 Research problem......................................................................................................................................20 1.4 Research objectives and questions .........................................................................................................21 1.5 Research justification ................................................................................................................................22 1.6 Research approach ....................................................................................................................................22 1.7 Research process .......................................................................................................................................23 1.8 Reading guide .............................................................................................................................................26 2 Literature review .......................................................................................................... 28 2.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................28 2.2 Stabilisation operations ............................................................................................................................29 2.3 Systems thinking ........................................................................................................................................43 2.4 Resource based view .................................................................................................................................55 2.5 Information processing theory................................................................................................................56