Military Intervention and Peacekeeping

The New Constabularies: Planning U.S. Military Stabilization Missions

This article, written by Lawrence E. Cline in 2004, is designed to show that modern missions of peacekeeping are more like constabulary missions of the past than traditional peace operations. In that regard, the age of new constabularies that is being seen today tends to blur the line between the armed forces and police. Traditionally, police are expected to enforce the law and keep the peace. The armed forces are designed more for moving into a place and fighting against people who are trying to destroy others for whatever reason. A soldier and a police officer are not the same, but yet people are being forced to perform both jobs because of the stabilization missions that are being seen today (Cline, 2004). When the armed forces move into a country they are ready to kill, attack, and defend. They go in, they do what they have to do, and then they leave again. However, now they are being kept around to act as policemen to a large degree, and this is not the job that they were trained for (Cline, 2004).

One would think that having a strong armed forces presence for a long time would make a country better and safer, but it often leads to feelings of anger and oppression from the civilians of that country, who cannot walk down the street without seeing men in camouflage with rifles on their backs or in their hands. It can wear down the people of a country and the members of the armed forces who are forced to stay there, and this is not a good situation for either one of these groups (Cline, 2004). Having members of the armed forces act as a police force is completely at odds with the culture that the military has, and therefore it is not something that should be encouraged. The job descriptions for these two groups of people are very different, and it is hard to send trained warriors on a mission of peace (Cline, 2004). It is illogical and counterintuitive, and that is much of the reason why it should largely be avoided, although there may be times when it really cannot be helped and must be utilized for a brief period of time.

Bibliography

Cline, Lawrence E. (2004). "The new constabularies: Planning U.S. military stabilization missions. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 14(3): 162-188.