Conflict Management and "Whole of Government"

On February 25, 2011, Kennesaw State University (KSU) and the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the U.S. Army War College, conducted a symposium entitled "Conflict Management: A Tool for U.S. National Security Strategy." This symposium was the first collaboration between KSU and SSI, and it was conducted in the inaugural year of KSU's new Ph.D. program in International Conflict Management (INCM). In addition to the focus on conflict management, the symposium was designed to examine one of the ongoing research interests in the SSI academic engagement series, the role of "whole of government" (WoG) efforts in addressing contemporary national and international security challenges and opportunities. Three symposium panels addressed the following topics: "Responding to New Foreign Policy and National Security Threats," "WoG Prospects and Challenges," and "WoG Lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan." The symposium discussions ranged from the conceptual to the practical, with a focus on the challenges and desirability of interagency cooperation in international interventions. Invited panelists shared their experiences and expertise on the question of WoG and the impact of fragile and failing states on national security concerns. The panelists engaged the audience in a discussion that included viewpoints from academia, the military, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and industry. Despite the broad range of viewpoints, a number of overarching themes and tentative agreements emerged. The reader will find them in the chapters of this edited volume.