ABSTRACT
Civil-military cooperation does not occur naturally. Generally, military and civilian institutions have different positions and ambitions; they represent differing interests and are backed by varying stakeholders. Besides, both sets of institutions are different in terms of access to power and funding. Because of such variations, civil-military cooperation is – to some degree at least – conflicting by nature. In fact, the concept of antagonistic cooperation refers to cooperative processes occurring notwithstanding conflicting elements between the collaborating parties. Inter-organizational cooperation is considered successful only to the extent that the partners are willing to recognize and accept their differences and conflicts of interest. Why, then, do the military, governmental institutions and NGOs – from the international and the local community – cooperate and how can their cooperative arrangements be described?
