About This Event:
Groups that rely on the illicit use of violence and/or illicit sources of wealth to pursue their goals plague many countries. However, they tend to play a disproportionate role in post-conflict settings where wartime networks or networks forged during the transition from war to peace undermine the institution-building efforts necessary for democratic stability and development. To improve actors’ understanding of this problem and to begin devising remedies, the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS) held a workshop entitled “Cleaning House: Confronting Illicit Power Structures in Post-Conflict Settings” in Monterey, CA, from November 4-7, 2007. More than 40 panelists and participants from nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, government civilian agencies, the armed forces, thinktanks, and academic institutions met to review a proposed framework for analyzing the propensities, capacities, and vulnerabilities of illicit power structures and to assess ways in which the framework might guide practitioner responses to this global challenge. The workshop, which built on a number of conferences on the illicit power structure framework sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, is part of a CSRS series of events addressing the negative impact of corruption and institution building in post-conflict settings.

This report represents the author’s interpretations of the workshop’s primary findings. Participants did not formally endorse the list of findings or recommendations identified in the report.

About This Event:
Making Sense of It All: Cross-Cultural Understanding was designed to help participants explore culture at both a cognitive and experiential level. Through presentations, simulations, and group discussions, participants explored culture as an individual and collective experience, began developing cultural fluency, and investigated the role between culture and conflict.

About This Event:
Negotiation Skills for Post-Conflict Actors was held May 20-23, 2007, at the Marina Dunes Resort in Marina, California. Representatives from non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, government civilian agencies, and the US and foreign armed forces gathered to discuss negotiation principles, improve their cross-community and interorganizational communication skills, network with practitioners from the field, and learn best practices from experts. The event was hosted by the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies and was cosponsored by the United States Institute of Peace, drawing from their successful curriculum on negotiation issues.

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CSRS conducted the conference with OPNAV N5 at the Washington Navy Yard on April 24-25, 2007. CSRS has made informal plans to conduct a similar conference during 2008. Approximately 75 participants attended, largely from the Navy, but also from OSD, Joint Staff, Army and Marine Corps, and State Department. Of the Naval Component Commands, both NAVEUR and NAVSOUTH participated. (NAVCENT and PACFLT were unable to attend due to operational demands.)

About This Event:
Healing the Wounds: Rebuilding Health Care Systems in Post-Conflict Environments was held March 12-15, 2007, at the Portola Plaza Hotel in Monterey, California. Representatives from both US and international government civilian agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and the armed forces gathered to discuss healthcare needs in post-conflict environments, discuss successes and shortcomings of existing models, and begin building best practices with industry peers.

About This Event:
In recent years, staggering levels of corruption in a wide range of post-conflict countries have caused stabilization and reconstruction practitioners to consider whether they need to pay more attention to integrity reforms in their interventions. In response to this growing recognition that the connections between corruption, conflict, and peace building need to be better understood, CSRS held a workshop on Post-conflict Institution Building: Beating Corruption from December 10-13, 2006. More than two dozen panelists and participants from nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, government civilian agencies, and the armed forces gathered to discuss the challenges posed by corruption and the successes and shortcomings of anti-corruption efforts in post-conflict settings.

About This Event:
Working Effectively in Post-conflict and Humanitarian Situations: Tools for Communication, Collaboration, and Negotiation was held October 15-19, 2006, at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Representatives from nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, government civilian agencies, and the US armed forces gathered to discuss negotiation principles, practice new skills, and learn best practices from experts. The event was hosted by CSRS and was cosponsored by the United States Institute of Peace, drawing from their successful curriculum on negotiation issues.

About This Event:
September 13 -14, 2006 CSRS hosted an academic conference focused on the Navy's role in Stability, Security, Transition and Reconstruction operations at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

About This Event:
From July 30 to August 2, 2006, CSRS conducted a workshop entitled Security Sector Reform: Education and Training Needs. Workshop goals were to identify key planning requirements for the development of successful security sector reform education and training programs in post-conflict environments of the early twenty-first century. The workshop brought together a balanced cross-section of the security sector reform community with civilian, military, and international participants for three and a half days of intensive deliberations. One of the workshop’s major objectives was to generate ideas and recommendations for security sector reform education and training that could be used by all interested community members, not just CSRS or the US Government. This report suggests best courses of action for developing education and training opportunities.

About This Event:
Information Sharing in Insecure Environments was held May 21-25, 2006, in Monterey, California. Representatives from nongovernmental organizations; intergovernmental organizations; government civilian agencies; and the armed forces of the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany gathered to discuss organizational and industry imperatives, learn about current and past initiatives, and create new models for improving information sharing and enhancing cooperation in insecure environments.

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From January 29 to February 2, 2006, representatives from the US government, United Nations, and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participated in an educational game at the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS) at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. The game focused on the operational challenges associated with providing medical and health assistance as part of disaster relief and development assistance in regions of conflict or instability. Three scenarios were used, and participants took the role of representing their respective medical communities: military, civilian government, international organization, and international nongovernmental organization. The first scenario focused on disaster relief in a post-conflict setting, the second posed a situation of a natural disaster occurring during ongoing combat operations, while the third concerned an epidemic of avian influenza among a mixed population of civilians and insurgent forces.

About This Event:
On August 1– 5, 2005, the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS) conducted the first in what will be a series of educational games addressing challenges associated with stabilization and reconstruction operations. This report documents that Game, entitled “Humanitarian Operations During Conflict,” which brought together representatives who deal with humanitarian relief from non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/international organizations (IOs), US government civilian agencies, and the US military, to explore possibilities for cooperation in the delivery of relief assistance in conflict zones.

About This Event:
This is the final report summarizing discussions at the workshop on "Humanitarian Roles in Insecure Environments." It details challenges and issues faced by NGO/IOs, armed forces, and governments as they attempt to operate along side each other in stabilization and reconstruction operations in conflict and post-conflict zones.