ABSTRACT
One of the key features of the large international statebuilding endeavours of today is that they take place in the midst of armed conflict. Such non-permissive environments mean that statebuilding generally involves a large military component and that much of the focus is on establishing local security capacity. The core tasks of these military contributions are to provide enough security to provide a context from which to start the processes of reconstruction and reconciliation, as well as to conduct military capacity-building through training, mentoring and equipping local forces. However, the military contribution to statebuilding is not limited to these core tasks — it also increasingly involves playing a part in the traditionally civilian fields of humanitarian relief and economic development, as well as the promotion of good governance and political legitimacy. Yet, it is far from clear how military organizations, organized, trained and equipped to produce organized violence and destruction as effectively as possible, can contribute to these processes.
