Improving civil–military coordination in humanitarian logistics: the challenge

Heaslip Graham E. () and Barber Elizabeth
Additional contact information
Heaslip Graham E.: School of Business, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, Galway, Ireland
Barber Elizabeth: School of Business, University of New South Wales Australian Defence Academy, Canberra, Australia

The Irish Journal of Management, 2016, vol. 35, issue 2, 143-158

Abstract: Within the emerging field of humanitarian logistics, the civil–military logistical interface has achieved only minimal attention in academic literature even though most western nations have a civil–military division within their defence departments. Due to fundamental differences between humanitarian and development agencies and international military forces in terms of the principles and doctrines guiding their work, their agendas, operating styles and roles, the area of civil–military logistical coordination in humanitarian relief has proven to be more difficult than other interagency relationships. This paper presents recent research that proposes a model for logistics requirements in humanitarian operations, taking account of where and how civil–military involvement can be most effective and efficient across all phases of humanitarian operations. Interviews were conducted with key personnel in humanitarian and military organisations. The model proposed here, appears to be robust and workable in a range of geopolitical and operational circumstances. We show that the greatest impact of military involvement is most beneficial in the initial crucial life sustaining days immediately after natural disasters. In contrast in manmade complex emergencies, military assistance to the logistical provision of aid is more beneficial when widespread military expertise is provided.

Keywords: civil–military cooperation; complex emergencies; coordination; humanitarian logistics; natural disasters; supply chain management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/ijm-2016-0011 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:irjman:v:35:y:2016:i:2:p:143-158:n:1004

DOI: 10.1515/ijm-2016-0011

Access Statistics for this article

The Irish Journal of Management is currently edited by Edel Conway and Jonathan Lavelle

More articles in The Irish Journal of Management from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().