Abstract
It is increasingly acknowledged that civil society actors and the military can establish cooperative relationships, not only in implementing security policies, also in actual policy design. We see this clearly in the design of Protection of Civilians policies, where non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as PAX or the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) are organizing trainings for military staff, both national and international, to raise awareness and improve policies. Yet, we do not know when and why the military is receptive to such cooperation with NGOs. We answer this question by studying a typical case of NGO-military cooperation towards policy improvement, which is the relationship between NATO military staff and NGOs PAX and CIVIC in the development of the NATO Policy for the Protection of Civilians. Theoretically, we borrow from resource exchange theory, which makes us hypothesize that NGO-military cooperation depends on the awareness of military staff that NGOs can contribute scarce resources, such as expertise about on-the-ground repercussions of the use of force. Empirically, we follow a dual-track approach, relying on interviews with NGO staff to gain insights in their supply of expertise, and with NATO military staff to explore their demand for expertise. The findings of this paper contribute to the civil-military relations literature by demonstrating that NGOs can take part in military affairs when military staff lack the adequate resources to formulate their policies.