Integrating Instruments of Power and Influence: Lessons Learned and Best Practices; Conference rept

摘要

This project grew out of a decade's worth of experience, principally gained by the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union (EU), in military interventions abroad and their aftermath. This experience centered on the Balkans in the 1990s -- Bosnia and Kosovo -- and on the Middle East and environs in the current decade -- Iraq and Afghanistan. In all four of these instances of crisis, conflict, and the post- conflict period, it has become increasingly clear that success, defined in any reasonable terms, has depended on how a variety of instruments of power and influence are exercised, often in concert with one another. In short, military and civilian activities have become virtually inseparable in the kinds of engagements and operations discussed here, and they certainly have become interdependent. So too has cooperation between institutions of government and nongovernmental organizations; and there is also a premium on relations between states and international institutions, as well as on interaction among the latter. The project is an exploration into what people who have actually been involved in operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan have learned about 'getting the job done.' It is a compilation, a synthesis, and an analysis of lessons learned and best practices ranging across the full spectrum of activities from the time before military intervention takes place all the way through to what is generically called post-conflict nation-building. The report summarizes the results of conferences and meetings of a panel of senior practitioners convened jointly by the RAND Corporation and the American Academy of Diplomacy that brought together nearly 70 individuals, including U.S., allied, coalition, and United Nations military leaders, U.S. and European diplomats, and representatives of private-sector and nongovernmental organizations.