Dealing with the security gap
the Netherlands army's doctrinal struggleDealing with the security gap
the Netherlands army's doctrinal struggleSamenvatting
Due to the absence or incapability of local police or lagging deployment of an international police force, to fill ensuing security gaps, military on international stability missions have been dealing with insecurity, criminality and insurgency. Although ensuring law and order exceeds the core tasks of the military, and meets with resistance, given the circumstances, (international) military acting as interim police-force has been considered the only option. This chapter explains how the Netherlands Royal Army has contributed to improving public security by providing some sort of interim policing during stability operations and concludes that it has not institutionalised these activities in its doctrines. It is argued that the NL Army must recognise the needs to engage in the restoring and maintaining of public security in case of a security gap. By clearly defining in the doctrines which policing tasks should be performed to establish public security, a better organizational fit for these tasks could be institutionalised and the necessary training, mind-set and culture developed.