IRD Voices Blog

Changing Societies and Making COIN Work

Posted on May 30, 2012 by IRD HQ

A thought-provoking article from the National Defense University Press on counter-insurgency operations. It was originally published in 2011, but still relevant today. The author, Amitai Etzioni, sheds some basic common sense on working with different cultures, including the following points:

  • Don’t imagine you will recreate a society in your own image (especially from afar, and in two years)
  • Build on what you have instead of demolishing it to start anew
  • Try to understand the local perspective
  • Respect cultural norms as much as possible
  • Don’t overreach

These ideas bear repeating and can be applied to development programs in just about any country emerging from conflict.

This article is well worth a read.

Filed Under: Conflict Mitigation, Civ/Mil

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