Table Of ContentResponding to Violent
Conflicts and
Humanitarian Crises
A Guide to
Participants
Edited by
Pamela Aall · Dan Snodderly
Responding to Violent Conflicts and Humanitarian
Crises
·
Pamela Aall Dan Snodderly
Editors
Responding to Violent
Conflicts
and Humanitarian
Crises
A Guide to Participants
Foreword by Jane Holl Lute
Editors
Pamela Aall Dan Snodderly
United States Institute of Peace United States Institute of Peace
Washington, DC, USA Washington, DC, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-59462-6 ISBN 978-3-030-59463-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59463-3
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Foreword
Over the past several decades, the international community has learned
many lessons from military and humanitarian interventions in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among
other places. Foremost among these lessons might be the importance
of grounding international engagement in the understanding that no
single organization or government can do all that needs doing, and
that successful engagement always entails a collaboration of effort among
numerous and quite different institutions that frequently operate in sepa-
ratespheres.Thecomplexityofinternationalinterventionsisalsoreflected
intheincreasedtendenciesofdonorgovernmentsandinternationalorga-
nizations to act in partnership with host country government institutions
and civil society.
The nature of violent conflict continues to evolve, with the growing
roleofnon-stateactorsandageneralproliferationoforganizationalpres-
ences in the field. The challenges grow more difficult by the day, as
peacekeepers and humanitarian workers alike struggle with their tasks in
the midst of a global pandemic—Covid-19—now sweeping the globe,
afflicting the vulnerable and able alike.
In response to these challenges, the field of peacebuilding has evolved
through lessons learned, new technological developments, and the
changing nature of violent conflict. It has expanded its scope to include
relief, protection of human rights, trauma-healing services, repatriation
v
vi FOREWORD
of refugees and resettlement of internally displaced persons, and aid for
economic reconstruction.
Atthesametime,thehumanitarianfieldhasincorporatedconflictreso-
lution and peacebuilding into its programming. The practice of peace-
keeping has also come under pressure in recent years as well, with
heightened expectations, broadened mandates, demands for enhanced
effectiveness, and continued reform efforts.
One of the most important lessons learned is that the major
groups involved in peacebuilding—international organizations, non-
governmental organizations, civilian government agencies, and mili-
taries—comefromverydifferentcultures.Theydonotalwaysunderstand
each other. While substantial efforts have been made to increase coop-
eration and collaboration among these groups, given the serious chal-
lenges and the constantly changing cast of characters in the field and at
headquarters, there is still a long way to go.
In my experience at the United Nations and for the U.S. government,
the need for effective, collaborative responses to these crises remains crit-
ical.Atthiswriting,theUnitedNationsestimatesthat168millionpeople
need help and protection in crises. The Covid-19 pandemic will increase
thatnumberdramatically.Thisbookispartofthesolutionbyhelpingthe
principal institutions carry out their missions, in ways that are both more
informed and more effective.
Washington, USA Jane Holl Lute
Special Envoy for the UN
Secretary-General
on the Cyprus Dispute
Jane Holl Lute isspecialenvoyfortheUnitedNationssecretary-generalonthe
CyprusdisputeandpreviouslyservedasUNassistantsecretary-generalforpeace-
keeping. While at the United Nations, she also led the Office of Peace Building
SupportandtheDepartmentofFieldSupport.LuteservedasU.S.deputysecre-
tary for homeland security and on the National Security Council staff under
presidents George H. W. Bush and William Clinton. She had a distinguished
careerintheUnitedStatesArmy,includingserviceintheGulfduringOperation
Desert Storm. She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a J.D. from the
GeorgetownUniversityLawCenter.LuteisamemberoftheBoardofDirectors
of the Center for Internet Security and the Atlantic Council.
Preface
Responding to Violent Conflicts and Humanitarian Crises is a substan-
tially revised and updated edition of the Guide for Participants in Peace,
Stability, and Relief Operations, published by USIP Press in 2007. That
book was itself a substantial revision of an earlier book, Guide to IGOs,
NGOs, and the Military in Peace and Relief Operations, published by
USIPPressin2000.InanonlinesurveyconductedbyJimRufandKelly
Mader-Schonour in 2018, respondents overwhelmingly supported publi-
cation of a new edition, and we gathered the current team to complete
that task. We have changed the book’s title to reflect changes in the
international environment and the fact that all the chapters have been
extensively, if not entirely, rewritten.
Audience
This guide is designed primarily for those serving in the field, but it
should also be helpful to headquarters personnel, as well as military and
agency trainees and university students. Furthermore, previous editions
were added to the reading lists of a number of undergraduate courses in
conflict resolution, security studies, and international relations, and were
also used in military training institutions.
vii
viii PREFACE
What’s New in This Edition
All the sections of this edition have been substantially revised to reflect
current conditions and the latest research on best practices. Specific
changes to each part are noted below.
Chapter 1, Introduction, describes the purpose of the book and
looks at the on-again off-again nature of the international communi-
ty’s response to conflict and crises over the years, the evolving nature of
conflict, and the continuing need for international actors to understand
andlearnhowtoworkmosteffectivelywithotheractorsoperatinginthe
same space.
Chapter 2 on International Organizations describes the three types
of international organizations: the United Nations system, regional and
sub-regional organizations, and other intergovernmental organizations
outside the UN system that are built upon cultural, linguistic, religious,
or historic ties, as well as international humanitarian organizations.
We have expanded the material on regional and sub-regional organi-
zations and on intergovernmental organizations outside the UN system.
We have also provided a comprehensive overview of the various types of
UN peace operations (in addition to peacekeeping operations), including
political missions, police missions, and human rights missions.
Chapter 3 on NGOs describes non-governmental organizations that
respond to humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters, and violent
conflicts and provide peacebuilding, long-term development, and advo-
cacy. It provides basic information regarding the structure, staff and
missions of NGOs found in peace, stabilization, and relief operations.
We have added a discussion of the growth of civil society as an impor-
tant component of peacebuilding as well as the challenges of on-the-
ground coordination among the NGO community and between NGOs
and other civilian and military actors. Chapter 3 also discusses the differ-
ence between neutrality and impartiality in terms of humanitarian assis-
tance, as well as the pros and cons of NGO activity and the issues being
debated within the NGO world itself.
Chapter 4 on Civilian Government Agencies describes the array of
U.S. government agencies encountered on the ground in peace and
relief operations including the traditional foreign affairs departments—
State, USAID, Defense, Commerce, and Agriculture—but also Treasury,
Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. Although
PREFACE ix
this chapter deals mostly with U.S. agencies, it also includes sections on
agencies in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, and Canada.
In addition, we have focused on efforts to improve the capacities
of civilian agencies in complex operations. We have added new mate-
rial on the legal authorities and appropriations constraints that agencies
operate under, coordination across agencies, and monitoring and evalua-
tion,aswellasasectiononhumanitarianresponseunderUSAID’sgeneral
direction.
Chapter 5 on The U.S. Military retains the focus on the values,
culture, organizational structure, and doctrine of the U.S. military, but
has been updated to reflect the military engagements in Afghanistan and
Iraq, especially the increasing use of private security contractors in peace
and stabilization operations.
In addition to describing the functional and geographic commands,
as well as the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and
(briefly) Space Force services, the chapter covers such key information
as how to “read” a military uniform, types of military funding and
appropriate uses, and the best ways to interact with the U.S. military.
These five chapters do not reflect the entire universe of third party
participants that respond to conflict in fragile states. Nor do they cover
the important contribution of local actors, both official and non-official,
in bringing peace. Because they are operating in the same environment,
however, the book should be as useful to these other parties as it is to
U.S. military and civilians, UN officials, and NGO staff.
Washington, USA Pamela Aall
Dan Snodderly
Acknowledgments
Like many books, this one has a long and complicated history, and that
meansmanypeoplehavecontributed,inonewayoranother,toitsdevel-
opment and publication. When we first visited the U.S. Army Peace-
keeping Institute (PKI) in Carlisle, PA, in 1996, we were planning on
discussing ways we might collaborate on educational projects including a
book. We never dreamed we would be working on a completely revised,
updated, and renamed version of that book 20 years later.
Thislongjourneybeganin2000withpublicationoftheGuidetoIGOs,
NGOs, and the Military in Peace and Relief Operations (USIP Press),
conceived of and designed by Dr. Judith Stiehm of Florida International
University, at that time a visiting professor at PKI, and Pamela Aall, then
director of education at USIP. The authors were Thomas Weiss, City
University of New York, on intergovernmental organizations; Lt. Col.
Daniel Miltenberger, PKI, on the military; and Pamela Aall on NGOs.
A second edition, expanded to include civilian agencies and entitled
Guide for Participants in Peace, Stability, and Relief Operations (USIP
Press), was published in 2007. The volume editor was Robert Perito, a
formerU.S.ForeignServiceofficeranddirectorforsecuritysectorgover-
nance at USIP, working with a steering committee that consisted of Col.
John Agoglia, PKSOI (PKI had added Stability Operations to its name);
Christopher Hoh, U.S. Department of State; Dawn Calabia, UN Infor-
mationCenter;RoyWilliams,CenterforHumanitarianCooperation;and
Karen Guttieri, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
xi
