Stability Operations: A Core Warfighting Capability
Abstract
Since the end of the Cold War and the ensuing wave of state failures, military and civilian leaders and experts have debated who should carry out the tasks necessary to end conflicts and restore stability to war-ravaged populations. Many analysts argue that stabilization and the transition to "nation-building" are a job for civilians. Given the lack of alternative candidates for the job, however, stability operations are likely to remain a military responsibility for the time being. Nevertheless, many U.S. military strategists, both civilian and military, now appear to see stability operations not as the future of the U.S. military, but as an inconvenient bump in the road from the Cold War military to a future, "transformed" global force. This approach could prove dangerous and self-defeating. A growing performance gap between unrivalled combat prowess and ad hoc, reluctant stability operations will ultimately foil our efforts to translate military dominance into greater national security. If that happens, military transformation will prove to have been a waste of time and resources. This essay argues that it is imperative for civilian and military leaders to broaden their traditional combat-centered outlook and make a permanent, robust stability operations capability a core transformation goal. The first part will review the debate during the 1990s over the role of stability operations as the military adjusted to post-Cold War conflicts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA441674
Entities
People
- Wendela C. Moore
Organizations
- National War College