The special operations doctrine of international organizations. An introductory analysis to United Nations (UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and European Union (EU) approaches

Abstract

The area of special operations doctrine offers a number of research avenues for exploration in order to provide broader context and understanding of special operations and special operations forces (SOF) to both scholars and practitioners. In this spirit and to add to the body of existing special operations literature, this article delivers an overview to published UN, NATO, and EU SOF doctrine and compares and analyzes these documents for similarities and differences. The exploration of the SOF doctrine of international organizations is germane to states committing SOF units to missions abroad under UN, NATO, or EU mandates. While the SOF contingents will deploy guided by national military doctrine, they will need to align their operational approach with the SOF doctrine published by the multilateral organization leading the operation. SOF deployments to Afghanistan under the auspices of NATO, to Mali under the EU, and to Sudan under the UN demonstrate the real-world necessity of doctrinal understanding for multinational SOF interoperability. The conclusion offers some thoughts to follow-on areas of SOF doctrinal research that would contribute to an increased understanding of SOF.