US Doctrine for Peace Operations

Abstract

The United States has been conducting peace operations under various names throughout its history, while never defining these tasks as a core mission. However, the combined effects of the end of the cold war, involvement in the Balkans and the post-conflict reconstruction of Iraq are leading the United States to embrace the full spectrum of operations. Since 2004, new doctrine has been published and new concepts introduced, reflecting a more holistic approach to peace and stability operations. The majority of US military personnel now have experience in these missions. Both services have been re-examining their own history, dusting off and republishing the counter-insurgency and 'small war' writings of the past 100 years. It remains to be seen whether the doctrinal shift away from large conventional wars is permanent or a temporary response to recent events.The United States has been conducting peace operations under various names throughout its history. These date back to colonial times and the Reconstruction after the Civil War in the 1860s through the campaigns against the native Americans and the occupations of the Philippines, Cuba, China and Central America at the beginning of the twentieth century, as well as the post-conflict situations after the second world war. Functions engaged in by the US military have ranged from enforcing civil rights, to disarming, demobilizing and separating factions, overseeing the formation of governments, training and advising local military forces, educational reform, humanitarian relief and providing a safe and secure environment so that orderly society could be established. US military officers have conducted peacebuilding operations in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Nicaragua and the Philippines following the war with Spain in 1898 and in Germany and Japan following the second world war. In all this time, the US military as an institution and the US government never embraced these tasks as a core mission. However, the combined effects of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, involvement in the Balkan peace operations since 1995, and the operations in support of the post-conflict goals in Iraq since 2003 are changing the core mission of the US military. 1

Le soldat de la paix. Une brève comparaison des trajectoires canadienne et américaine

“…Dans cette perspective, l'utilisation d'une force excessive eut probablement des effets contraires à ceux escomptés. On trouve un point de vue plus encourageant chez Flavin (2008) qui, s'il constate une amélioration sur le plan de l'innovation doctrinale, s'interroge néanmoins sur sa durabilité. Notant l'aversion naturelle de l'organisation militaire américaine pour les opérations autres que la guerre, surtout à partir de la fi n de la guerre du Vietnam, l'auteur remarque néanmoins une tendance, à partir des années 2000, vers l'incorporation graduelle des concepts relatifs aux opérations autres que la guerre, comme en témoigne notamment la doctrine de l'Armée américaine sur les opérations.…”

War Gaming Peace Operations

“…How can a simulation focus attention on soft factors such as religion and culture? Such factors are increasingly important for the U.S. military because mission requirements for Western military forces have evolved from the original application of hard power to a wide spectrum of primary mission responsibilities, including stabilization, humanitarian operations, and post-conflict reconstruction (Flavin, 2008). Furthermore, for the past two decades, the United States has intervened in situations where religious and cultural sensitivities are inherent to the conflict: Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.…”