Civil-Military Cooperation in Conflict Management and Peace Process: Determinants and Sources of Friction; Kenya Defense Forces and Disarmament in North Rift

Project summary

This BSU Master thesis is about the civil-military cooperation in the disarmament exercise carried out by Kenya Defense Forces in collaboration with other civilian actors in North Rift region in Kenya under the name Operation Dumisha Amani (Maintain Peace). The thesis has used four key hypothesis to establish the relationship between the differences in organizational structure, decision making procedures and information handling practices as well as trust issues on how they impact on the cooperation between the civilian and the military. The data has been qualitatively collected from the key informants operating in the region and military officers as well as desk research on how the differences impacted on cooperation. The organization theory has been used to analyze the different factors that influence the tendency of organizations to either cooperate or abjure it. Key insights from the theory including issues of uncertainty based on the differences in core goals, organizational structures as well as costs and limits set by hierarchies have been discussed. The data has been presented using frames and the findings have been discussed. Finally, the paper has concluded that indeed differences in organizational structure, decision making procedures and information handling procedures as well as trust impacted negatively on cooperation by preventing easy flow of information and interaction between the actors. The failure to establish a formal forum for cooperation has particularly stood out as the most misnomer in the Dumisha Amani operation.