R2P is the New COIN

September 19th, 2011 by zen

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  1. Lexington Green:

    September 19th, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    Looking forward to reading this series, Mark.  

  2. Kanani:

    September 19th, 2011 at 3:16 pm

     From someone who has just gotten back from a Stand Down for homeless veterans and has seen first hand the cost of such pressing needs to transform other places, I certainly wish people like Dr. Jackson would devote one day a week to Veterans Centers.

  3. Nathaniel T. Lauterbach:

    September 19th, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Hi Mark.  Another interesting post.
    .
    I suppose my only criticism of your comparison is that–you are correct–COIN was never more than a set of tactics and techniques, and, occasionally, it might break into the operational level–that is, campaigning.  That is all.  It was not a prescription for deciding what wars to fight, when, and how.  It was a prescription for how to avoid or how to win specific engagements, and therefore, is the rightful province of sergeants, captains, and colonels.
    .
    R2P seems to have no associated tactical playbook, apart from possibly the Foreign Internal Defense field manual.  Everything else seems to be just on the fly–whether that’s provinding money, close air support, intelligence, or arms.
    .
    (It’s also interesting to note that many of the SOCOM assets that would be so useful in a FID campaign came of age in the age of Camelot–the halcyon, pre-Vietnam 1960s, when a very young, inexperienced president was trying to fundamentally transform American foriegn policy into something more activist, willing to "bear any burden" for the "cause of freedom."  Change "cause of freedom" to "R2P" and you see that this attempt at transformation is really nothing new.)
    .
    Given all that, R2P seems to be an attempt at providing a part of a grand strategy–that is, deciding which wars to get involved in.  I cannot say that this is a positive development, since I agree with many of your criticisms that R2P will seek to change a very flexible and fixable system of common law into a more transnational rule set of "norms" decided by various global elites.  It’s a technocratic strategy, and is also anti-American (to the extent that it’s unconstitutional and transnational) and anti-democratic (to the extent that it’s technocratically elitest).
    .
    After just getting off of the COIN roller coaster for about 9 of the last 10 years, I’m not sure this Marine has the stomach for another 10-20 years of questionable campaigning.  I especially hope that at least the rhetoric doesn’t become as stratospheric as the "bear any burden" hogwash–especially considering that, like with COIN, the burdens weren’t beared by the elites that pushed it, but rather by Generation X and Y, who will likely be bearing a great many other burdens as the Baby Boomers continue to retire.
    .
    I will continue to do my duty, however.
    .
    Semper Fidelis,
    NTL

  4. R2P Is Not the New COIN « Dart-Throwing Chimp:

    September 19th, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    […] foreign-policy blog Zenpundit asserted today that”R2P is the new COIN.” This is not to say that R2P is a military doctrine, but like the rise of pop-centric COIN, […]

  5. With Outstretched Arm | The Committee of Public Safety:

    September 19th, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    […] Safranski posts on Responsibility to Protect or ”R2P is the New COIN”: The weirdly astrategic NATO […]

  6. With Outstretched Arm | Fear, Honor, and Interest:

    September 20th, 2011 at 12:14 am

    […] Safranski posts on Responsibility to Protect (R2P): The weirdly astrategic NATO campaign in Libya intervening on […]

  7. zen:

    September 20th, 2011 at 1:41 am

    Hi Lex,
    .
    First installment on the way…..
    .
    Hi Kanani,
    .
    I hear you. I also think there’s a lot of wisdom from Abe Lincoln, who told a hotheaded SECSTATE Seward, "One war at a time".
    .
    Hi Nate,
    .
    Glad you weighed in. You wrote:
    .
    "R2P seems to have no associated tactical playbook, apart from possibly the Foreign Internal Defense field manual.  Everything else seems to be just on the fly–whether that’s provinding money, close air support, intelligence, or arms"
    .
    Yes, R2P is more "fungible"or flexible  in fitting across the DIME spectrum than was COIN and it is Beltway civilian friendly, being a creation for polisci majors and lawyers. No particular knowledge of strategy, tactics, operational art is required or even an area studies grasp of culture, language or regional diplomacy. Running on telegenics and moral indignation, it is a doctrine tailor made for "emergency men" and instant experts.
    .
    "Given all that, R2P seems to be an attempt at providing a part of a grand strategy–that is, deciding which wars to get involved in"
    .
    Yes and no. I see your point on that in the sense that R2P creates a theme of moral purpose which in Boydian thinking is a critical element of grand strategy. OTOH, it is reactive and rudderless, driven by the mercy of events with little else to tie interventions together geographically or in terms of advancing interests making it an anti-grand strategy as well. Hard for me to say yet and hopefully, it will die and we won’t have to find out!

  8. BRUCE KESLER: R2P…RIGHT TO PROTECT OR RIGHT TO PREEN? | RUTHFULLY YOURS:

    September 24th, 2011 at 10:15 am

    […] liberal elites, however oppressive, get off more lightly. In the first part of a five-part series, R2P is the New COIN, Safranski says: …like the rise of pop-centric COIN, it will be an electrifying idea that has […]

  9. zenpundit.com » Blog Archive » R2P is the New COIN « US Defense News:

    October 4th, 2011 at 3:22 am

    […] zenpundit.com » Blog Archive » R2P is the New COIN. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]

  10. Omar:

    November 13th, 2011 at 8:02 pm

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  11. zen:

    November 14th, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    Gracias, Omar. I signed up. Heh. I had been wondering if ZP was under a DDOS attack again when my count dropped 100-200+ a day!
    .
    Have to remediate…..

  12. Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » Syria, Iran and the Risks of Tactical Geopolitics:

    February 13th, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    […] was icing Gaddafi under the moral banner of R2P, which would seem – in theory of course – to be applicable to governments very much like […]