Pete A Turner – Customary Disregard for Religion

Sometimes, Pete A Turner is the guest on the Break It Down Show. Our host for this episode is Dr Wilfred Reilly. Wil is covering Pete and Dr Rich Ledet's recent academic article discussing the impact of religion on operations in Conflict Zones.

This article was published in The Challenge to NATO
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Here's an excerpt from the Abstract - Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between religion and political development in the context of recent military operations in predominantly Islamic countries. We help advance the argument that disregarding the power of local religious customs detracts from the broader political development objectives of modern-day NATO member military missions, primarily because it hinders the creation and building of state capacity.

Going further, we demonstrate how military operations can more effectively engage aspects of religion and local customs in a way that promotes stability and helps a fledgling state fulfill its most basic function, which is to provide security. Using two of the authors’ (Ledet and Turner) first-hand observations made during district and village level military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, we describe aspects of operations that were designed in a way to allow a military unit to effectively navigate the religious landscape, and do so in a manner that helped support state-building efforts.

However, we also explain how planners disregarded or overlooked the religious aspects of the operating environment, in other situations. In conclusion, we reflect on how NATO-led missions can better engage religion in a manner that encourages the type of political developments that contribute to longer term stability through state-building processes.