Band of Brothers or Dysfunctional Family. A Military Perspective on Coalition Challenges During Stability Operations

摘要

Counterinsurgency (COIN) and other stability operations seldom present a nation with trials that threaten its very survival (unless the country in question is the one directly under assault). Bonds between coalition members are therefore weaker in such situations than they are when threat of annihilation reinforces mutual dependence. These situations are further complicated by the use of force likely not being the primary implement for attaining ultimate success. Devoid of a preeminent threat and denied primary dependence on armed forces, primary coalition objectives tend to be political rather than military in character. They include the myriad tasks embodied in such wide-ranging language as counterinsurgency, nation building, developing government capacity, and providing humanitarian assistance and that are collectively referred to in doctrine as stability operations. Armed forces are not staffed or trained to meet the long-term demands of many of these tasks. An alliance or coalition must therefore incorporate participation by other government agencies and ultimately that of the indigenous government and its population to an extent not expected during conventional combat operations. (Indeed, the indigenous country is sometimes excluded from membership in a coalition longer than appropriately serving the coalition's objectives would seem to dictate.) Recent contingencies have also seen commercial enterprises, militias, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) become key participants in these undertakings. The result is coalitions of a size seldom seen and with a number of affiliations rarely, if ever, approached before the closing years of the 20th century. This monograph investigates the dramatic expansion of challenges confronting alliances and coalitions today and thereafter considers potential solutions that include questioning our very conception of what constitutes a coalition in today's world.