Post Conflict Reconstruction: On the Critical Path to Long-Term Peace

The focus of this research is to define the role the military should assume in post conflict infrastructure reconstruction during peace operations. The paper examines the limitations under which the military currently operates, discusses the advantages and disadvantages that the military and the civil agencies bring to infrastructure reconstruction, and suggests a template to use during future peace operations maximizing each organization to its best effectiveness. Reviewing the case studies of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, there is a gap of about one year from the cessation of hostilities until the civil agencies can properly organize, deploy, and become effective in post conflict reconstruction. This gap results in continued instability for the host nation, a longer military deployment for peacekeeping forces, and greater outlays of resources for the troop contributing nations to the peace operation. By allowing and properly funding the military to engage in post conflict reconstruction during that critical first year, rather than limit the military to works that satisfy only the minimum military requirement, the host nation economy will be given a jumpstart, government legitimacy through the provision of basic needs will be established quicker, and overall security will be enhanced, thus shortening the required deployment for military peacekeepers.