Civil-Military Cooperation In Humanitarian Response: An International Practices Approach
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to understand how humanitarians and militaries cooperate during humanitarian civilmilitary coordination in humanitarian response after the Cold War. The research evaluated the international practices explanation through a longitudinal study from 1991 to 2009, a natural disaster case (Haiti Earthquake, 2010), and a complex emergency case (Battle for Mosul, 2016 to 2017). The international practices approach best explains the cooperative framework facilitated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Service (UN-CMCoord). It emphasizes field-level interaction and consensus-building processes in international relations. This research developed the international practices lifecycle to visualize how local social interaction generated a new practice that became diffused, institutionalized, or faded. Empirically, not only did a cooperative framework emerge, but now cooperation is expected in natural disasters and complex emergencies. Practices primarily emerged to fill gaps in policy. Host nation support, humanitarian leadership, and CMCoord staffing and competence were essential to building trust and facilitating humanitarian civilmilitary coordination. A key finding was the inconsistent application of the humanitarian principles. With the collapse of humanitarian space, humanitarians and militaries can use this information to better work together in the future.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1114641
Entities
People
- Andrea H. Cameron
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School