Concordance Theory, Targeted Partnership, and Counterinsurgency Strategy

Abstract

This study introduces the new concept of targeted partnership, which encourages robust dialogue between military officers and policy makers to create and implement effective military strategy such as counterinsurgency. Targeted partnership is a distillate form of concordance theory or agreement involving reciprocity between the military, political elites, and society for a limited period of time to accomplish a very specific objective. Targeted partnership may involve the temporary co-mingling of military, political, and societal boundaries even when the broader institutional and cultural relationship between military and society may be one of separation. In other words, separation and integration may exist at the same time for very specific reasons central to a nation’s foreign policy. Targeted partnership is a practical extension of concordance theory that enables the military to have effective interactive dialogue with policy makers to explore critical military strategies, such as counterinsurgency, while considering the cultural and institutional contexts of foreign nations.