As part of the NAVI Speaker Series, we had an enlightening discussion on civil-military relations in fragile states with Dr. Stanislava Mladenova, a Global Fellow at Brown University’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies and the author of “When Rambo Meets the Red Cross: Civil-Military Engagement in Fragile States.”
During the webinar, Dr. Mladenova discussed her book, providing valuable insights on topics such as the nature of fragile and irregular warfare spaces, the role of the military in humanitarian and development efforts, and the similarities between Special Operations Forces (SOFs) units and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) regarding their areas of operation, the resources they bring to the table, and their operational methods. Following her talk, we engaged in a detailed discussion to explore these topics further. At the end of the webinar, Dr. Mladenova answered questions from the participants.
“Today, we are faced with a politically and militarily complex situation in Gaza, Ukraine, Haiti, and great power competition with China. These are the concerns people have in Washington, DC these days. But perhaps the MOST pertinent and substantial challenges we face TODAY are those of the HUMAN CONDITION in fragile and irregular spaces, which will be home to 2/3rds of the world’s poor by 2030. It is also in THESE spaces where populations will INCREASINGLY suffer from the effects of climate change, extreme poverty, inequality, and insecurity. And it is also from THESE spaces where we will inevitably see the emergence of persistent state fragility, INSURGENCY, and irregular warfare. NGOs are increasing in size and complexity, and they are now concentrating in places where SOFs are. The military cannot fix what’s wrong alone, and neither can the civilian organizations working on the ground alongside them.”
You can watch the full video here.
Who is Stanislava Mladenova
The NAVI Research Institute is the research division of NATO Veterans Initiative - NAVI that provides a unique perspective to transatlantic leaders and societies on peace and security through the lens of NATO's founding principles of rule of law, democracy, human rights, and individual liberties. The NAVI Research Institute was officially established by the NAVI Board on July 16th, 2023.
