Samenvatting

In today’s world of globalisation, national borders have faded away, which poses new challenges and risks for
national and international security. The ambition of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence is to share responsibility
for the safety and stability of the international community. The three main tasks of the Defence organisation are
formulated as follows:
1) Protecting the integrity of national and allied territory, including the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
2) Promoting stability and the international rule of law.
3) Supporting civil authorities in upholding the law, and providing disaster and humanitarian relief, both
nationally and internationally [6].
In order to carry out these tasks, often in international alliances, and to successfully perform the requisite
complex activities involved in these tasks, the Netherlands Defence organisation aspires to be professional,
flexible, and multi-functional. This requires a well-balanced personnel structure of military and civilian
personnel, working together effectively to accomplish the organisation’s objectives. However, as far as we
know, until now, civilian and military personnel work culture and relations in the Netherlands Defence
organisation have not been subject to scientific study, in contrast with the extensive study of other forms of civilmilitary
relations (e.g., the cooperation between the military and civilian actors and organisations in operational
situations, such as between the military and national governments, local authorities and non-governmental
organisations/NGOs).
The aim of this chapter is to provide insight into civilian and military personnel work relations in the
Netherlands Defence organisation. First, we provide information about the size, structure, and workforce of the
Netherlands Defence organisation. Then, we describe how the proportion of civilian and military personnel in
the Netherlands Defence organisation originated and the rationale behind it. We subsequently address the work
relations of civilian and military personnel, the management of these two groups of personnel (i.e., the policies
and practices), and the issues and points of attention that can be identified.
The information we present and discuss in this chapter is based on (policy) documents, interviews, and
secondary analyses of quantitative data collected periodically among Defence personnel by the Behavioral
Sciences Services Centre. We conducted interviews with the following high-ranking personnel in charge of
personnel affairs: the Head Director Personnel (responsible for all Defence personnel), the Director Personnel of
the Navy, the Director Personnel of the Army, a staff member of the Army, the Commander of the Royal
Netherlands Marechaussee, the Commander of the Support Command, and the Director of the Defence Materiel
Organisation (DMO). Additionally, we interviewed the Director of the Behavioral Sciences Services Centre and
the head of one of the largest unions of Defence personnel. The country report template served as our interview
guideline.