Enhancing Stablization and Reconstruction Operations

December 2, 2008

Coauthored by Julian Lindley-French of the Netherlands Defence Academy and Robert Hunter of the RAND Corporation, this paper makes 14 central recommendations for ways in which Europeans and North Americans can strengthen the effectiveness of stabilization and reconstruction operations. The paper draws on a series of discussions held in 2008 by a small Euro-Atlantic working group composed of leading American and European experts who have endorsed its "general thrust although not every word." The broader CSIS program "A Global Dialogue between the European Union and the United States" served as a framework for the working group seminars and this publication. This program is directed by Simon Serfaty, holder of the CSIS Brzezinski Chair, and receives support from the European Commission.