A Framework for NGO-Military Collaboration
Abstract : What do military professionals need to know about NGOs? The literature on NGOs includes very little about NGO-military relationships in troubled areas. Moreover, the U.S. military fails to convey or encourage an adequate understanding of NGOs in its publications and mid-career military education. Drawing abductively from scholarly literature and inductively from case studies and practitioner interviews, I theorize that the efficacy of NGO-military collaboration varies with the type of NGO (INGO or LNGO) and the type of operation. I crystallize this argument into a typology of NGO-military outcomes. I find that military cooperation with international NGOs is most productive during humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief operations, whereas military cooperation with local NGOs is most productive during conflict and post-conflict operations.
Strange Bedfellows: Relations between International Nongovernmental Organisations and Military Actors in Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism in Northeast Nigeria
Previous studies have examined the impact of the relationship between international nongovernmental organisations and the military on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian programming. However, how relations between international nongovernmental organisations and military actors affect preventing/countering of violent extremism has not been central to existing debates. By using the qualitative-dominant mixed methods approach, this paper investigates relations between these actors in Northeast Nigeria and argues that the dynamic interactions between international nongovernmental organisations and the military largely breed mistrust and conflict between them. This undermines the capacity of international nongovernmental organisations to prevent/counter violent extremism. The paper concludes that mutual respect for the operational procedures of the military and international nongovernmental organisations in the Northeast is relevant for an enhanced relationship between them and sustainable preventing/countering violent extremism programming in Nigeria and beyond.
Military Relations with Humanitarian Relief Organizations: Observations from Restore Hope
Abstract : Operation RESTORE HOPE, the December 1992 U.S. Military intervention in Somalia, was a significant military operation that coincided with a massive relief effort. One aspect of the operation that was fairly new to many Marines there, and to our military as a whole, was the degree of interaction with workers from Humanitarian Relief Organizations (HROs). Although both the military and the HRSs accomplished their missions in Somalia, relations between the two groups were sometimes strained. In future operations--in which the threat might be greater and closer cooperation necessary--military-HRO relations may need to be better. As part of the CNA RESTORE HOPE reconstruction project, this paper examines military-HRO relations in that operation. The paper draws on the RESTORE HOPE experience so that future commanders can better understand the complexities of military-HRO relations. In the paper, we review various aspects of the relationship, identify the causes of the problems between the groups, and suggest options that commanders consider for improving relations in future operations. Disasters, Foreign aid, International relation, Joint military operations, Military assistance, Military operations, Operation restore hope, Somalia, United Nations.