PrintBeth Ellen Cole
Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
Beth Cole is the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. She leads USIP’s Civilian Peacefare Initiative that began in 2007 with a multiyear project to produce comprehensive "doctrine" for civilians in stabilization and reconstruction missions. This includes work on other civilian capacity components such as building a civilian reserve, interagency planning and coordination and training and education for civilians. Cole also co-chairs the Working Group on Civil-Military Relations in Non-Permissive Environments, an ongoing forum for the U.S. armed forces, U.S. government agencies and U.S. humanitarian assistance organizations. She serves as the lead for the USIP Afghanistan Security Project and is USIP’s official liaison to the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute.
Among other posts, Cole was director of the Congressional Roundtable on Post-Cold War Relations in the U.S. Congress and a senior fellow at George Mason University’s Program on Peacekeeping Policy. Cole was a co-author of the recent RAND book, The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building (January 2007). She co-authored a number of USIP Special Reports including, "Transitional Governance: From Bullets to Ballots" (2006) and "Building Civilian Capacity for U.S. Stability Operations: The Rule of Law Component" (2004) and the Peace Through Law Education Fund’s A Force for Peace and Security: U.S. and Allied Commanders Views of the Military’s Role in Peace Operations and the Impact of Terrorism on States in Conflict (2002) and A Force for Peace: U.S. Commanders Views of the Military's Role in Peace Operations (1999). Cole also served in positions at the Congressional Research Service and the U.S. Department of State working on arms control treaty issues and was executive director of several non-governmental organizations, including the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the Peace Through Law Education Fund.
Cole received a B.A. in political science and French from the University of Vermont and completed Kent State University’s program on international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Resources & Tools
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USIP’s Beth Cole presents ideas for military and civilian cooperation to increase security and stability in Afghanistan and Iraq to a House Armed Services subcommittee. Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq
| Issue Areas: Capacity Building, Civil Society, Post-Conflict Activities
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Although Afghanistan has now laid the foundation for a market-based economy, substantial challenges still linger. Many of the problems Afghanistan’s economy faces are typical for those rebuilding after war: high prices from an immature system that lacks adequate private sector competition; resistance to change from a state-controlled system; the dearth of human capital; corruption; insecurity; and inequalities created by the market system itself. Issue Areas: Economics and Development
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Developed in concert with the Department of Defense and Interaction (the umbrella organization for major American humanitarian non-governmental organizations), these guidelines address how the US military and US non-governmental organizations should behave towards each other in non-permissive environments like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Issue Areas: Civil-Military Relations
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In the State of the Union address this year, President Bush joined calls for a U.S. civilian reserve corps. In mid-2006, USIP convened federal law enforcement officials and chiefs of police from across the United States to examine the range of choices for creating the police component of a civilian reserve corps that could rapidly deploy to states emerging from conflict. |
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Five years after the fall of the Taliban, the international community and the Karzai government are losing a battle of confidence among the Afghan people. The United States needs to take dramatic steps to spur the delivery of governance, security, and development in order to stabilize Afghanistan. Countries: Afghanistan
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The Afghanistan Reconstruction Group (ARG) was designed to serve an advisory role to both the U.S. and Afghan governments. USIP convened its Afghanistan Working Group to assess its shortcomings and potential for future success. Countries: Afghanistan
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Effective transitional governance is one of the most formidable challenges facing reconstruction and stabilization missions in war-torn, failed states. How can these states secure lasting peace without institutions of governance, accountable leaders, and support of the governed? Issue Areas: Conflict Management and Resolution, Governance, Post-Conflict Activities
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With the rise of the insurgency and new insurgent tactics in Afghanistan, the USIP Afghanistan Working Group met to discuss the particularly alarming rise in bloodshed as U.S. forces begin the transfer of control of insurgent-heavy regions of the country to NATO forces this summer. Countries: Afghanistan
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USIPeace Briefing analyzes the potential impact of the Global Peace Operations Initiative on African peacekeeping forces. |
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Establishing public order in the aftermath of an international military intervention is "job one." The success of all other activities hinges on getting this job done. Military combat units, however, are neither trained nor equipped for riot control and law enforcement functions. No rapidly deployable U.S. civilian capacity exists to provide the full spectrum of rule of law functions—from intelligence to incarceration—needed to support military forces engaged in peace and stability operations. Countries: United States
| Issue Areas: Civil-Military Relations, Post-Conflict Activities, Rule of Law
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Events
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October 23, 2007
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June 21, 2007
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May 15, 2007
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December 6, 2006
Countries: Afghanistan
| Issue Areas: Governance, Peacekeeping, Post-Conflict Activities, Rule of Law
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November 8, 2006
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June 27, 2006
Countries: Afghanistan
| Issue Areas: Peacekeeping, Security and Strategy, Terrorism and Political Extremism
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