Doing one’s job: translating politics into military practice in the Norwegian mentoring mission to Iraq

Enstad, Kjetil

doi:10.1080/09592318.2020.1714847

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The main ones are stopping flows of foreign fighters, cutting off flows of money to Daesh, the provision of humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians to delegitimise Daesh, and direct military intervention (Spanish Ministry of Defence, 2021). In addition to strategic bombing and joint operations with local forces, the military operation also involved SFA (Enstad, 2020). As in other cases, when local forces are not able to fight internal threats, foreign support to security forces is required (Ladwig, 2003).…”

Section: Security Force Assistance From a Comparative Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

The Spanish Army in Security Force Assistance

López-Rodríguez

2023

Rev. Cient. Gen. José María Córdova

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This article analyses the lessons learned by the Spanish Army in the Security Force Assistance (SFA) Operation in Iraq between 2015 and 2020. The research uses primary data from 22 personal interviews conducted with Spanish officers and NCOs, as well as secondary data sourced from a database containing the Spanish Army’s online mission register. The results identify the scenarios and activities performed in SFA operations, as well as the main lessons learned by the Spanish Army in Iraq. The two main lessons are the prevention of internal attacks and the relevance of awareness of cultural dimensions to improve training processes. Conclusions can be extrapolated to other European armies, providing policy recommendations for training local forces in SFA operations.

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Section: Security Force Assistance From a Comparative Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

The Spanish Army in Security Force Assistance

López-Rodríguez

2023

Rev. Cient. Gen. José María Córdova

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“…To illustrate this point, not in terms of gaming practices but in terms of another core practice in the military, we might turn here to planning procedures. In my research on capacity-building (Enstad, 2020), one of my interviewees from the capacity-building operation in Iraq from 2018 responded to my question about the most important competence for the mission by pointing to his extensive experience with the military decision-making process (MDMP). This, he said, allowed him to analyse and plan for any situation.…”

Section: The Meaning Of Wargames and Exercisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Holen (2020) has shown, too, that the meaning of "security" in military parlance and military planning practices is quite to different that understood in discourse in the academic field of security studies. I have shown elsewhere how political ambitions for a military operation are shaped through the integrative practices of a military community (Enstad, 2020). Wargames are, therefore, not just a separate, isolated domain for exploring ideas, training decision-making, developing tactics, etc., but inevitably part of the range of games in the wider, Wittgensteinian sense that we play to make sense of the world.…”

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confidence: 99%

Professional Knowledge through Wargames and Exercises

Enstad

2022

Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies

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In professional military education (PME), wargames and field-training exercises are among the pedagogical tools used to teach students to be professional officers. It is generally accepted that wargames are important sources of insight -even if, as Peter Perla (2012, p. 157) points out, they are "not real." Notwithstanding the truism that there exists a gap between the game and reality, the wargame is a tool designed to provide the learner something to aid them in the real world. There are discussions in the literature concerning which aspects of the experience and practice of gameplaying are relevant to the player's understanding of the aspect of reality their game is about; here, Perla's discussion of the categorization of wargaming analysis is useful (2012, pp. 231-239), as is the report Wargame Pathologies (Weuve et al., 2004). While, with a few exceptions, the literature on wargaming does not engage with the fundamental epistemological questions of wargaming, there is a tendency to demarcate the relevance of wargaming for professional competence to specific aspects or domains of knowledge. In this article I argue that wargaming and field-training exercises in PME shape the future officer's understanding and professional practices in much more profound ways than commonly assumed. Starting from Wittgenstein's philosophy of language and his discussions of what learning means and how meaning arises, I will show that, as far as learning to become an officer is concerned, wargames and exercises are intrinsically educative: learning inevitably takes place, and this learning shapes, in fundamental ways, how the officer understands and responds to situations they might face as a professional practitioner. The article proceeds in three steps. First, the theoretical basis for the argument, a Wittgensteinian view of learning and of professional knowledge, is presented; second, the nature of wargames and exercises, and their nature as sources for knowledge, are discussed; and in the final section, the implications for our understanding of wargames and exercises in professional military education of the preceding two sections are suggested.

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“…This can result in multiple principal-agent dynamics within a programme, especially when a private security firm is tasked with implementation. Even when a provider's security personnel carry out the programme there might be a considerable gap between the politicians' intentions when granting funds to the programme and the way the individual officers interpret the mission (Enstad 2020). A similar gap is often mirrored on the recipient side, especially in states with highly fragmented security sectors.…”

Section: Researching Sfa To Fragile Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Contributions to great powers' SFA programmes -notably the US, but also the EU-signals their loyalty to other powers through political support of their activities in the recipient country. This has been important in US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also when EU member countries contribute to various programmes in African countries (Enstad 2020;Henningsen 2019). Belgium's SFA contributions provide opportunities for Belgian personnel to gain operational experience and deployments that lead to promotions from combat theatres and working in coalitions, while being exposed to a minimum of risk (Wilén 2021).…”

Section: Objectives and Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Security Force Assistance to Fragile States: A Framework of Analysis

Rolandsen

Dwyer

Reno

2021

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding

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A major shift in global security provision has occurred. Security Force Assistance (SFA) programs, which involve the training and equipping of a foreign armed force, have become an increasingly common form of intervention into fragile states. These programmes have replaced large-scale combat deployment and policy makers now prefer them over broad and expensive security sector reform. This Special Issue focuses on dynamics that are specific to fragile recipient states with fragmented security forces. In this introduction article we assess the state of the field of SFA studies. We discuss approaches to the study of SFA and propose a framework for research which covers conceptualisation, implementation, and impact of SFA programmes. A key observation emerging from the case studies presented here is that the logic of governance in many of these states relies upon manipulating security sector fragmentation, which can produce outcomes that are directly opposed to SFA providers' intent. Moreover, the proliferation of providers and programmes exacerbates this fragmentation.

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Doing one’s job: translating politics into military practice in the Norwegian mentoring mission to Iraq

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

The Spanish Army in Security Force Assistance

The Spanish Army in Security Force Assistance

Professional Knowledge through Wargames and Exercises

Security Force Assistance to Fragile States: A Framework of Analysis

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