Economic Development in Counterinsurgency

<p>To be victorious against an insurgency counterinsurgents must build host-nation government legitimacy within the population by providing effective security responsive governance and sufficient economic development. When the United States (US) decides that it is in its interest to assist other nations battle insurgencies it should consider how best to accomplish these three objectives. Within the security mission US Army and Marine Corps leaders have codified the US approach in a an official publication but US economic development experts have not yet put forth a similar strategy to guide development activities or inform their security and governance counterparts. To fill the gap this paper lays out five key economic development principles that should be used to form the basis of any development COIN strategy: host-nation government legitimacy mission synchronization simultaneous tactical and operational development HN capacity building and responsiveness to local input. It also proposes the use of a four-phase development model composed of Shape Stabilize Build and Transition phases to increase the probability that economic development in COIN will have its intended effect with regard to building government legitimacy and increasing security and governance cooperation. COIN is a difficult task the success of which relies on a number of complex factors that often fall outside the counterinsurgents#65533; control. While these development principles and corresponding model do not guarantee success they do increase the probability of a favorable outcome if employed consistently.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>