When Rambo Meets the Red Cross: Civil-Military Engagement in Fragile States

Non-governmental organizations and militaries are notorious for their difficult relationship. The military is mostly understood through the prism of its lethality, and NGOs are perceived as idealistic do-gooders, ready to save the world. Stanislava P. Mladenova traces the changing character of interaction between both of these entities. She argues that the boundaries which once separated their functions are fading. Fragile, ungoverned, and insecure spaces need both of what these actors can provide. As a result, they have drawn closer together, and have everything at their disposal for a collaborative, efficient, and productive civil-military partnership, which is contrary to what many observers and leaders in the conflict and development space have long believed. Mladenova makes a convincing case that it is high time both sets of actors put aside their differences, bringing to light a fast-changing landscape of vicious poverty, insecurity, and climate change, where the conventional way of doing business will become the exception, not the rule.

Dr. Stanislava P. Mladenova is a Global Fellow at Brown University’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, and Fellow at the Irregular Warfare Initiative at the US Military Academy at West Point. Her work has brought her to Africa, Central and South Asia, South America, and the Balkans. She has held positions at various institutions, including the United States Institute of Peace, working in West Africa to establish dialogue between security actors and local communities. As a Political Advisor for NATO in Afghanistan, she helped shape policy on economic issues, governance, corruption, disaster management, humanitarian assistance, and the recruitment of child soldiers. Her research at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London focused on the functional relationship between military and civilian entities in settings affected by low-intensity conflict and state fragility.