Civil-Military Interaction: a Case Study to Validate a Conceptual Framework

Abstract

International peace operations in response to complex emergencies require effective interaction between international civil and military participants and local actors. Although these operations frequently occur worldwide, civil-military interaction (CMI) remains problematic. CMI problems are described in the literature at length. However, the knowledge management aspects of these problems have received less attention. The feasibility of technical support solutions for CMI should be investigated using a design science approach. This requires validated models of the structural and behavioral characteristics of the CMI domain. A CMI conceptual framework providing such models has been proposed earlier and should be validated. A case study has been conducted into a Netherlands military CMI organization. This study provides for initial user validation of the models. In follow-on research, the validated conceptual framework is used to structure the investigation of CMI problems, knowledge process deficiencies, and their causal relations. It may subsequently support knowledge engineering-based solution design.