Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
I suggest that a less elaborate approach to civil affairs is more feasible.

The following could be realized by using a few benches sitting in the shade of a pleasant grove:

1. A school, where the important factors are who the teacher is and what the teacher teaches.

2. A court, where again the important factors are who the judge is and what the judge decides.

3. A council, where again the important factors are who the elders are and what they legislate in accord with what the local concept of governance is.

Since we are dealing with a semi-permissive environment, the folks who assist in establishing these very basic local institutions have to be an armed political action team capable of self-defense. And, since we'll posit the presence of larger groups of bad guys, that team needs its own set of protective Dobermans cruising the neighborhood.
These are all excellent and useful ideas, but they all hang up on one of the basic realities of our current COIN problems: we're not fighting our insurgencies, we're fighting someone else's. Most communities are not comfortable with the idea of furriners setting up schools or holding influence over what is taught, or setting up courts and holding influence over decisions, or setting up councils and holding influence over who sits on those councils and what is debated. Even if we try to be impartial, the perception that these institutions represent foreign influence is bound to be present. To the extent that resistance to foreign influence is a part of the insurgent narrative, this sort of activity may actually support that narrative.

Of course it's best if this sort of organizing is done by the Government we're supporting, but it often isn't... or if it is, it is aimed less at building durable institutions with popular support than at supporting individuals or groups that suit the convenience of the governing elite.

It's easy to say that the governments we support need to govern effectively, but that falls into the "good morning, Captain Obvious" category. If they had the will and the capacity to govern effectively they probably wouldn't be facing insurgencies in the first place.

This is the hole we have dug for ourselves: we are heavily invested in Governments that cannot stand, but that we cannot allow to fall. If we try to govern in their place, we undercut their vestigial authority and credibility. If we allow them to govern on their own, they won't. If we try to assist them, we come up against the reality that our agenda (development of effective institutions) is generally very different from theirs (personal gain).

It's a gnarly problem. The only solution I can think of would be to not have gotten into this position in the first place, but it's a wee bit late for that.