Civil-military relations in peace operations: the Danish experience

It is common sense that armed conflicts can not be overcome by military means alone. There is the need to find ways to combine civil and military instruments in peace operations. However concepts to approaches of civil-military cooperation are diverse and common language or definitions to understand them need to be found.

A Synthesis Report of the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) combines the work of DIIS and partner organisations looking at civil-military engagement within Danish missions in Iraq (see separate study) and Afghanistan (see separate study). The report looks at the coherence challenge within and between Danish institutions involved, harmonization efforts with other international players, as well as at the alignment with local and national actors.

It recommends to increase sharing of analyses, lessons-learned and the development of common guidelines for civil-military relations, including standards for civil-military monitoring and evaluations. With regard to the host nation and local level the challenge remains to use local knowledge effectively. Additionally the linkages between national and regional levels need more attention. Furthermore understanding local perceptions of security and the protection of the population need higher priority. The report also makes very specific recommendations regarding the Danish institutional set-up and policy framework.

The synthesis report is part of DIIS research on 'Civil-Military Relations within International Peace Operations' with publications also concerning other European countries. See also for example: 'Integrated National Approaches to International Operations. The cases of Denmark, UK and the Netherlands'.

by Martin Behrens

See the Euforic newsfeed and dossier on peace and security

As well as ICCO on Democratization and Peacebuilding

Euforic goes Nordic

In December 2008, Euforic's Chris Addison contributed to several awareness and training activities held in Copenhagen and Oslo in December 2008.

He reported on the meeting facilitated by the Danish Development Research Network on the evaluation of research communications in early December (on communication M&E and communication success).

He also worked with the Danish Institute of International studies (already a euforic member) to establish their diis.blip.tv channel and report on their migration and climate change seminar. A series of sessions with DIIS researchers established their own virtual research desks, blogs and search engines.

A morning session at the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies covered an introduction to recording meetings on Blip.tv, the web2 high street tools and building a web presence rather than a site. One day at Norad included briefings to over 30 staff and work with individual teams on relevant tools and approaches to communicate, store and retrieve development related information.

Denmark launches public consultation on new humanitarian strategy

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently launched a comprehensive consultation process to revise its 2002 strategy regarding Humanitarian Assistance (pdf file).

According to the consultation website, the last years brought important global changes which need to be taken into consideration. Among these new trends are questions of food insecurity and increasingly complex conflicts and security issues. The Danish government wants to take a leading role and take state-of-the-art thinking into account to draft a new humanitarian strategy which takes regard of future protection challenges, the global food crisis, humanitarian consequences of climate change, humanitarian space and military operations.

The revision process will include three distinct phases:

• June to November 2008: Public events, consultations, analysis and reflection.
• November 2008 to January 2009: Formulation of the strategy document.
• January to April 2009: Hearing, revision and approval.

A website facilitates the consultation process. It offers information on the process itself, events, press information, news, videos, podcasts, a blog and a newsletter.

See Euforic's country profile and newsfeed for more on Danish cooperation

Danish Government Development Assistance 2009-2015

The Danish Government recently released two policy papers dealing with the future course of Danish Development Assistance, from 2009 until 2015. The general message is that Denmark aims to continue consolidating its priorities and target areas, mainly democracy assistance, gender and women’s rights, and HIV/AIDS.

This includes further reorganization towards fewer but larger donations, directed towards established and experienced multilateral organizations, a strong focus on Africa (One exception is the increasing support to Afghanistan) with the overall policy goal of poverty reduction.

Since Denmark aims to increase its strategic influence on key development actors, smaller contributions to multilateral organizations will be phased out. Furthermore allocations to countries which are not LDCs will consequently be reduced. Food security is added as a new focal area which goes along with increased contributions to the IFAD.

Denmark remains committed to a strong partnership approach with recipient countries and to the international aid effectiveness framework.

See the policy papers on Multilateral Development Cooperation and Danish Bilateral Aid

See also the recent reports of the OECD and Commitment to Development Report

Subscribe to Euforic's newsfeed on Danish cooperation policy.

Danish Institute for Development Studies joins Euforic

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), based in Copenhagen, has decided to join Euforic.

DIIS is an independent research institute engaged in various research areas, such as trade and development, politics and governance, migration, and foreign relations.

The Institute draws up reports and analyses and follows developments in international affairs continuously in order to assess the security and foreign policy situation of Denmark, e.g. aspects of relevance with regard to development policy. DIIS communicates research findings and analysis, and provides a series of information services. The Institute supports the development of research capacity in developing countries and fosters contacts between Danish and international research environments.

Together with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), DIIS constitute the Danish Centre for International Studies and Human Rights (DCISM).

See Euforic newsfeeds on research, DIIS and Denmark, plus dossiers on research and Denmark