Training Programs for International Security Personnel

Today’s crisis, conflict, and post-conflict contexts are characterized by complexity, multiple parties, blurred boundaries, blurred distinctions between combatants and civilians, and greater numbers of civilian casualties than combatant casualties. There are often many interveners attempting to manage the conflict, including international, regional, national and community-level state and nonstate actors. Intervening security forces – international military and police - are required to assume responsibilities for which they were not prepared, and to operate in domains in which they were not trained.

Military forces may find themselves carrying out activities traditionally conducted by police forces, and police may find themselves carrying out their traditional activities in combat zones. Both may find themselves supporting or actually implementing activities associated with the full range of tasks associated with nation-building or state-building, or tasked with managing conflicts in contexts far outside their routine responsibilities. At the same time, international peace operations, stabilization and reconstruction initiatives face shortages of well-trained security forces to meet their requirements for effective conflict management. Training for these types of operations involves skills not addressed in training for conventional military or police activities.

Security forces in these contexts must be prepared to support humanitarian operations, contribute to economic and political development activities, and engage in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. They must also be prepared to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with national and community level elected officials, business leaders, international and local non-governmental organizations, traditional leaders, religious leaders. In addition, they must work in tandem with the security forces of host countries and those of dozens of intervening countries.

During the past decade and a half, a number of international, regional, and national training institutions and training programs have been established to prepare security personnel for working in complex crisis, conflicts, and post-conflict environments. These include the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance Program (ACOTA), the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS), the Inter-American Defense College (IADC), and Centre of Excellence for Stability Police Units (COESPU). In addition to its support to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO), the United States government supports numerous other institutions and programs, including the IADC and COESPU. ACOTA and DIILS are U.S. government initiatives and are solely supported by the U.S. government.

USIP has contributed to the work of these institutions and programs by providing the conflict resolution skills training component to the courses. Students have learned about conflict analysis and problem-solving, and have learned how to negotiate and mediate in complex crisis contexts. Participants in USIP trainings contribute to U.N. peacekeeping operations, U.S. government operations, and the peacekeeping operations of regional organizations from Africa to Latin America.

About the Author

This USIPeace Briefing was written by Mary Hope Schwoebel, a program officer in USIP’s Education and Training Center/International. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Institute, which does not advocate specific policies.