Explaining the role of the armed forces in the Dutch safety regions
Explaining the role of the armed forces in the Dutch safety regions
Samenvatting
This chapter explores the roles of the armed forces in the twenty-five Dutch Safety Regions. After distinguishing four types of Safety Regions based on the risks that they report, the rationale for the Safety Region is provided based on organization theory. Next, civil-military collaboration in Dutch emergency management is embedded within literature on interorganizational collaboration and expeditionary civil-military cooperation. Qualitative interviews with military liaisons suggest that the type of Safety Region influences the role that the liaisons play, the perceived dependency on the military as an emergency partner and the cooperation dynamics between the military and civilian response organizations in terms of the relative importance of trust and control measures. Avenues for further research, especially regarding the role of power in domestic civil-military interactions, are outlined.