Summary: The Military Command and Control Process and Civil-Military Cooperation in Peace Keeping Missions
Andreas Maase
Civil-military cooperation (zivil-militärische Zusammenarbeit - ZMZ) as a procedure for coordinating civil and military moving forces of defence as a whole is different from civil-military relations (CIMIC), which deal with both the relationship between receiving nation and NATO forces and the cooperation of international organisations (IO) and NGOs. Nevertheless, in 2001 the two terms ZMZ/I (for internal) and ZMZ/A (for external) were brought together in the branch conception of the Bundeswehr; within the command and control organisation this area of responsibility is depicted in the J-5 division.
On the one hand, ZMZ/A, in the context of peace keeping missions, deals with intelligence collection, coordination, and assistance; it is advisable to cooperate closely with IOs and NGOs because of their state of knowledge, but it should be noted that not integrating them into the military command structure may prove problematic. Although the service regulations differentiate between life-saving adhoc assistance, existence-protecting survival assistance, and normalizing reconstruction assistance, it still remains to be seen what ZMZ can actually achieve.
On the other hand, the subject of the ZMZ/A command and control process is eliminating abnormal conditions caused by a deployment supporting a peace keeping mission, which for its part expresses political primacy. Peace keeping missions are operations other than war, the presence of armed forces guaranteeing non-combat. Peace keeping missions are supposed to protect a certain modus vivendi for the adversaries without imposing streamlining on them. Nation building concerns ruling the country and the people, drying out Mafioso black economies, and law enforcement.
Although security and order are certainly not l’art pour l’art, they are prerequisites for the development of democracy and human rights; the deceptive term nation building ought to be replaced by the more accurate term state building. The aims of ZMZ/A must be directed, with regard to time, at a gradual withdrawal of military responsibility, and as regards contents, at averting danger as well as at provisions for existence. ZMZ/A resources are used for the five sectors "public affairs”, "civil infrastructure”, "humanitarian assistance”, "economy and commerce”, and "cultural affairs”, with altogether 21 areas of responsibility.
The ZMZ branch conception of the Bundeswehr approaches three working areas in concrete terms: coordination of civil-military relationships, supporting armed forces, and supporting the civil environment. ZMZ/A is part of the military mission accomplishment, thus being subject to the procedures of assessment of present situation, planning, issuance of orders, and control, though it should be noted that subjective impressions of the J-5 play an important part time and again. Thus, the J-5 will be well advised if he insists on a political mandate put in concrete terms as exactly as possible.
Intelligibility, participation and subsidiarity are especially essential in ethnic conflicts. The civilian partner can comprehend an intelligible plan more easily. Participation means definite rights and obligations for all persons involved. Subsidiarity describes a gradual move of responsibility to the civil partner. Exactly defined interfaces and fixed courses of control guarantee that the civil partner feels bound to them. Control contributes to avoiding frictions which occur when the persons involved live in the same place, but in different worlds. It is only then that ZMZ/A can be successful.
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