Coordination as showcasing: the establishment of Norway’s Afghanistan Forum

ABSTRACT

In complex operations such as the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where multiple government ministries are involved in putting together a state’s contributions, the use of national-level coordination bodies has become more widespread. Research has taken for granted that the rationale behind these bodies reflects their declared aim – enhanced coordination as a means to improve mission effectiveness. However, they appear to have had modest effect on coordination. That notwithstanding, they seem to remain popular. This prompts us to ask why such bodies are actually established. This article – based on in-depth interviews and archival records – critically explores the establishment of Norway’s ad hoc, inter-ministerial, political-level Afghanistan Forum. Distinguishing between a structural-instrumental, a cultural-institutional and an environmental perspective from organizational theory to structure the analysis, this article shows that the declared purpose of the forum, inter-ministerial coordination, proved less important than showcasing coordination efforts and keeping the coalition together. In addition, national traditions in handling coordination challenges in the central government apparatus and powerful international reforms helped bring the forum about. This has implications for research on the rationale and effectiveness of these bodies, and also for understanding their policy relevance.

KEYWORDS:

• Complex operations
• comprehensive approach
• whole-of-government approach
• coordination
• Norway

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my supervisors, Professor Morten Egeberg and Assistant Professor Torunn Laugen Haaland, for helpful comments to article drafts. I would like to thank Sven Holtsmark, Kristoffer Kolltveit, Lars Wikman and colleagues at IFS for valuable comments to previous drafts. My thanks also go to an anonymous referee for constructive comments and the informants who generously shared their time and insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The UK government formed the Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit (PCRU) in 2004. In 2007, it was renamed the Stabilisation Unit (SU).

2. The Norwegian version of the report remains the authoritative version, but this article refers to the English version for the sake of simplicity.

3. The interviewees read and approved the quotations.

4. For the sake of brevity, this article will shorten the ministry’s full 2006 name, “the Ministry of Justice and the Police” to the Ministry of Justice.

5. Political appointees in Norway’s executive government are political advisers and state secretaries.

6. Author’s interview with Morten Wetland, Labour Party state secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister 2005–2008, Oslo, 4 July 2016.

7. Author’s interview with Espen Barth Eide, Labour Party state secretary in the Ministry of Defence 2005–2010, Oslo, 2 March 2011.

8. Eide, March 2011.

9. Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives, “Invitasjon til tverrdepartementalt møte fredag 06.01.2006 om Provincial Reconstruction Teams i Afghanistan” [Invitation to inter-departmental meeting Friday 6 January 2006 on Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan], 21 December 2005.

10. Eide, March 2011.

11. Eide, March 2011.

12. Author’s interview with Bård Vegar Solhjell, Socialist Left Party state secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister 2005–2007, Oslo, 20 June 2016.

13. Wetland, July 2016.

14. Wetland, July 2016.

15. Solhjell, June 2016.

16. Interview with Hans Jørgen Johansen, senior adviser at the Ministry of Defence, Oslo, 15 July 2016.

17. Author’s interview with Anne M. Fagertun Stenhammer, Socialist Left Party state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of International Development Affairs 2005–2007, Fauske, 20 July 2016.

18. Stenhammer, July 2016.

19. Author’s interview with Halvor Sætre, Deputy Head of Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2003–2010, Oslo, 8 February 2011.

20. These were some of Foreign Minister Støre’s remarks at a high level meeting on Afghanistan during the UNs 62nd session of the General Assembly in 2007: “Some of us raised the need for better coordination, between the different national agendas and between the various components of our engagement, here in New York a year ago”, and, he continued “it is indeed worrying that we are still concerned about inadequate coordination”, “[t]his is serious because it undermines our efficiency and our credibility” and “[w]e must all be willing to coordinate, and let ourselves be coordinated” (Meld. St. 20 (2007–2008), p. 29, author’s translation).

21. Author’s interview with Terje Moland Pedersen, Labour Party state secretary in the Ministry of Justice 2005–2012, Oslo, 14 February 2011.

22. Johansen, July 2016.

23. Eide, March 2011.

24. Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives, “Afghanistan. Møte i statssekretærutvalget Afghanistanforum, Utenriksdepartementet 08. november 2007” [Afghanistan. Meeting in the state secretary committee Afghanistan Forum, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 8 November 2007], 19 November 2007.

25. Eide held the position of state secretary in the Ministry of Defence until 2010, when he was appointed state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In November 2011, Eide was appointed Minister of Defence, and in September 2012, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

26. Author’s interview with Kjetil Skogrand, Labour Party state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2005–2006, Oslo, 28 June 2010 and Sigurd Marstein, senior adviser at the Ministry of Defence, Oslo, 30 November 2010.

27. Author’s interview with Kåre Aas, head of Department for Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2003–2008, Oslo, 8 February 2011.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.

Notes on contributors

Lene Ekhaugen

Lene Ekhaugen is a research fellow at the Centre for Civil-Military Relations at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), Norwegian Defence University College. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Oslo.