State Security Dynamics and the Impact of Intervention to Build Country Capacity

摘要

Recent history has shown that the armed forces will encounter significant challenges in its future stability and reconstruction efforts that seek to establish a safe and secure environment in the assisted country. In addition to establishing and maintain security, the military will ensure government stability with democratic practices including fair elections rule of law, and human rights; development of a robust economy; and assist the country in becoming a respected member of the international community. The military has had some success at affecting the social, governance, and economic fabric of a country. However, as recently demonstrated in Afghanistan and Iraq this has come with a significant price tag in terms of human life and investments. Few will deny that the US has struggled to invest our resources during stability and reconstruction operation in an efficient and effective manner. The Department of Defense must learn to better invest its resources before the outbreak of hostilities as well as throughout the spectrum of conflict and post-conflict operations. More importantly, we must better understand when to invest in building host nation capacity. This paper uses systems dynamics to understand how and where these investments affect the long-term legitimacy and capacity of a nation.