Governance LLO

From Complex Operations Wiki

Governance LLO
Activities:	Develop initial concept for governance, identify and recruit local leaders and organizational representatives; establish local, regional, and national agencies and departments; develop local, regional, and national policies and ordinances; reestablish justice system (law enforcement, legal courts, and prisons); support and secure elections.
End State:	Effective government institutions and presence established or restored.

One of several LLO, this LLO relates to the HN government’s ability to gather and distribute resources while providing direction and control for society. These include regulation of public activity; taxation; maintenance of security, control, and essential services; and normalizing the means of succession of power. Good governance is normally a key requirement to achieve legitimacy for the HN government. Activities related to it include the following:

• Controlling military and police activities.
• Establishing and enforcing the rule of law.
• Public administration.
• Justice (a judiciary system, prosecutor/defense representation, and corrections).
• Property records and control.
• Public finance.
• Civil information.
• Historical, cultural, and recreational services.
• An electoral process for representative government.
• Disaster preparedness and response.

Sometimes no HN government exists or the government is unable or unwilling to assume full responsibility for governance. In those cases, this LLO may involve establishing and maintaining a military government or a civil administration while creating and organizing a HN capability to govern. In the long run, developing better governance will probably affect the lives of the populace more than any other COIN activities. When well executed, these actions may eliminate the root causes of the insurgency. Governance activities are among the most important of all in establishing lasting stability for a region or nation.

Considerations for developing the governance LLO

• Encourage community leaders to participate in local governance. If no local council exists, encourage the populace to create one. Ask teachers, businesspeople, and others whom the community respects to form a temporary council until a more permanent organization can be formed.
• Help (or encourage) the host-nation government to remove or reduce genuine grievances, expose imaginary ones, and resolve contradictions, immediately where possible. Accomplishing these tasks may be difficult because -

• Genuine grievances may be hard to separate from unreasonable complaints.
• Host-nation leaders may be unable or unwilling to give up the necessary power to local governments.

• Make only commitments that can be fulfilled in the foreseeable future.
• Help the host nation develop and empower competent and responsive leaders and strengthen their civil service and security forces. Doing this is often difficult; however, backing an incompetent (or worse) host-nation leader can backfire. Do not be afraid to step in and make a bold change where necessary. A corrupt official, such as a chief of police who is working for both sides, can be doing more harm than good. You may be forced to replace him. If so, move decisively. Arrange the removal of all officials necessary to solve the problem. The pain of the affair may be acute, but it will be brief and final. Wherever possible, have host-nation authorities conduct the actual removal.
• Encourage the host-nation to grant local demands and meet acceptable aspirations. Some of these might be driving the insurgency.
• Emphasize the national perspective in all host-nation government activities. Downplay sectarian divides.
• Provide liaison officers to host-nation government ministries or agencies. When possible, use an interagency team approach. Structure teams based on function.
• Once the legal system is functioning, send someone to observe firsthand a person moving through the legal process (arrest by police, trial, and punishment by confinement to a correctional facility). Ask to see the docket of the judges at the provincial courthouse. If there is no one on the docket or if it is full and there are no proceedings, there may be a problem.
• Create a system for citizens to pursue redress for perceived wrongs by authorities. Rule of law includes means for a citizen to petition the government for redress of government wrongs. The ability to petition the counterinsurgency force for redress of wrongs perpetrated by that force (intentionally or otherwise) is also required.
• There are important logistic considerations for this LLO.

There are also several indicators that can be used to help measure progress for this LLO in the quantitative knowledge portal.

Source: Counterinsurgency Field Manual 3-24