Economic Assistance During Stability and Support Operations
Abstract
As part of stability operations, U.S. Army personnel have become increasingly involved in providing assistance to support economic and infrastructure development. Officers in Afghanistan and Iraq have had to select and implement assistance programs in their areas of operation. In many instances, they have neither the background nor the training to make informed decisions about which programs to support and how to go about implementing them. They therefore need better guidance on how to make such decisions, as well as a better understanding of the economic context of their efforts. While the U.S. government has produced such guidance for use at the national level, that work lacks sufficient detail on tasks appropriate for military forces. The Army asked RAND Arroyo Center to produce a guidebook for unit commanders that could be used by units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan to help Army personnel more effectively use economic assistance to support economic and infrastructure development. The result of the Army's request was an Arroyo publication, "Guidebook for Supporting Economic Development in Stability Operations," designed for unit commanders at the brigade level and below. To produce the guidebook, Arroyo researchers interviewed commanders in Afghanistan and conducted interviews with U.S. military officers who have served in that theater, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Haiti. They drew on their own work and that of others in previous RAND research and support efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, and the Balkans. The authors also tapped the substantial literature about effective economic assistance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA552687
Entities
People
- Jerry Sollinger
Organizations
- RAND Corporation