JDMS on the The Peace Support Operations Model and stabilization strategy

The most recent (1 April 2011) issue of the Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation is a special issue devoted to the “Peace Operations Support Model,” developed in the UK to explore peace and stabilization operations:

The Peace Support Operations Model (PSOM) was developed following a 2004 Ministry of Defence (MOD) man- date to create a dedicated analytical programme to study the Peace Support Operations (PSO) ‘problem space’. Analysts within the Policy and Capability Studies (PCS) Department of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) were grouped together and what has become the Stabilisation Study was born…

…The acronym ‘PSOM’ was coined 6 years ago, and while this may infer a focus on PSO (classically peace enforcement and peace keeping), the model, along with its underpinning research effort, has developed to reflect changes in UK policy and to allow for evolving academic and military thought. The naming issue becomes even more complex when you take into account national caveats and understanding. PSOM has become a collaborative US–UK effort, with additional interest from Australia, Canada, Japan and Sweden; and US and UK terminology alone often differs even if referring to what is essentially the same thing. The addition of different nations’ terminologies and particular areas of interest adds another layer of complexity. Further complication in the name of a wargame tool comes when you consider what you want the tool to do. There are plans to use PSOM as a campaign assessment tool in a real-world theatre of opera- tions, and potentially as a training tool, as well as a purely analytical tool….

The JDMS special issue contains a number of articles on the PSOM:

Editorial: The Peace Support Operations Model

• Noel Wilde

The Peace Support Operations Model: Origins, Development, Philosophy and Use

• Howard Body and Colin Marston

The Peace Support Operations Model: Modeling Techniques Present and Future

• Nathan Hanley and Helen Gaffney

The Peace Support Operations Model: Strategic Interaction Process

• Paul Strong

Representing Strategic Communication and Influence in Stabilization Modeling

• Gemma Warren and Patrick Rose

Modeling Information Operations in a Tactical-level Stabilization Environment

• Helen Gaffney and Alasdair Vincent

Modeling Security Sector Reform Activities in the Context of Stabilization Operations

• Oliver Talbot and Noel Wilde

You’ll find the table of contents here—an online subscription is required, however, to access the articles.