Abstract
Unconventional crises have gained the upper hand in today’s international security environment. The numbers of Special Operations Forces (SOF) that most Western militaries have at their disposal do deal with these types of crises are limited; therefore regular troops are increasingly used to fill the gap. This article applies theory on differentiation and integration to offer an organizational perspective on the security and safety risks of the new reality of converging military task domains. History has shown that the misuse of conventional or unconventional forces may result in failing security strategies and, at the same time, may seriously jeopardize the lives of the soldiers actively involved in a mission. The article makes clear that establishing integrating units, taking a middle position between SOF and regular forces, could be beneficial. Yet, real progress depends on two additional measures. First, countries need to improve their strategic-political knowledge base on the ins and outs of unconventional warfare through liaison positions and standing committees, in order to task the proper military units for deployment. Second, specialized training programs and facilities have to be developed to serve as an organizational coordination mechanism to better incorporate basic unconventional warfare practices into the operational repertoire of a large proportion of regular forces.
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Notes
- 1.
King 2013, p. 149.
- 2.
Robinson 2004
- 3.
Marquis 1997, p. 46.
- 4.
Robinson 2013, p. xviii.
- 5.
Lawrence and Lorsch 1967, p. 41.
- 6.
Lawrence and Lorsch 1967, p. 212.
- 7.
Mintzberg 1983, p. 240.
- 8.
Weale 1997, p. x.
- 9.
NATO 2010, para 8.
- 10.
NATO 2010, para 19.
- 11.
NATO 2010, para 25.
- 12.
Mintzberg 1983, p. 124.
- 13.
Spulak 2007, p. 11.
- 14.
Citino 2004, p. 264.
- 15.
Lawrence and Lorsch 1967, p. 215.
- 16.
Marquis 1997, p. 6.
- 17.
Bado 1996, p. 106.
- 18.
Krepinevich 1986, p. 75.
- 19.
Bado 1996, p. 106.
- 20.
- 21.
Marquis 1997, p. 72.
- 22.
Tucker and Lamb 2007, p. 116.
- 23.
Tucker and Lamb 2007, p. 126.
- 24.
Lawrence and Lorsch 1967, p. 220.
- 25.
Mintzberg 1983, p. 40.
- 26.
Marquis 1997, p. 149.
- 27.
Marquis 1997, p. 146.
- 28.
Timmermans 2014, p. 173.
- 29.
Fitzsimmons 2003, p. 214.
- 30.
Finlan 2008, p. 116.
- 31.
Mintzberg 1983, p. 82.
- 32.
Tucker and Lamb 2007, p. 226.
- 33.
De Waard and Kramer 2008, p. 542.
- 34.
King 2013, p. 224.
- 35.
Sarkar et al. 2001, p. 361.
- 36.
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de Waard, E., van den As, H. (2016). Organizing for Conventional and Unconventional Warfare. In: Beeres, R., Bakx, G., de Waard, E., Rietjens, S. (eds) NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016. NL ARMS. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_4
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