Steve B.

Delos Reyes
BAIS 3-1
Philippine Foreign Policy

Creation of a Learning Pathway

(Guided but independent work on “Military Cooperation”)

The exercise is designed for the student to arrive at an intelligent synthesis of Symbolic Interactionism. This
guided activity leads to the creation of a learning pathway that is distinctively unique for every learner.

Submission link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I9h-7erzi19b_7BJDTQmTjCaFfPrOKO0?usp=share_link

Due Date: The activity will run from December 12, 2022 - January 3, 2023.

Late submission is strongly discouraged. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE OUR LECTURE NOTES. Credits will
be given for this activity.

(minimum of 300 words, maximum words 500 PER ITEM)

1. Elaborate on the positive impact of military cooperation.

Increasing military cooperation in today’s world is much more

complex than what it was, as diplomacy becomes flexible and fluid, such
cooperation helps establish close ties with other countries in more than
ways than one. This becomes more valid in cases of smaller nations that are
within the potential threat of malignant forces but are lacking in resources
to strengthen their defenses and prioritize the modernization and
development of their own military to keep up with the arms race. Many
countries across the world are seeing an increasing mobilization of military
forces, with the great powers in lead, smaller countries must not only cope
and depend on the existing bilateral relations they have with the countries
of the Global North and maximize their good relations with the great powers
to maximize the potential of their forces to maintain security and stability.
Investing in military modernization is not easy for a developing
country that is lacking in resources. Choosing to take a long-term route to
securitize nation-building is not exactly within the reach of countries falling
in this category. Fostering stable relations with partners must be one of the
options in the globalized world, as history would tell it is always better to
have allies. Military-to-military relationship through building partner
 country’s military development is one of the efforts of diplomatic building,
either prioritized or not. This is because military cooperation is not just about
the modernization and joint-drills, it is also about building dialogue -- for
better communication. To build trust, confidence, and enrich each other
goes beyond diplomacy and security and encompasses shared history and
common goals. Despite converging cultures, both militaries see their duty
to serve society and bound by responsibility shaped by their own ethics to
work towards the greater good (Evans, 2018).
Lastly, as previously mentioned, this military-to-military cooperation
increases each other’s capabilities through different joint-exercises and in
different contexts. Capability development is not merely about
strengthening weapon systems, it is about making sure that a country’s
defense capabilities possess the requirements to deliver a performance
that can meet standards and other conditions (Nemeth, 2022). Smaller
countries lack the resources and expertise and can only do so much when
it comes the modernization of their military, the increasing pressure to
develop multinational capability must be prioritized to battle the
complexity of a nation’s growth, as other factors and internal problems can
affect military development for generations. Thus, military cooperation must
be invested upon as one of its benefits is better coordination costs, and the
transfer of technological expertise through dialogue which can also lead
to other opportunities. Not only that, but it is also an opportunity to establish
better understanding of each other’s work ethics. Military cooperation
between countries can the foundation on which further connections are
established (Ebitz, 2019).

2. Elaborate on the negative impact of military cooperation.

Increased military cooperation, especially on the host country, has

far-reaching implications in the context of which country is inferior in the
power dynamics and the sense of nationalism of the said country.
Improving bilateral relations, as discussed in the first question, has its benefits
– serving national interests, stability, and peace, but it is not always cut
clean as it seems to be in theory. The right to sovereignty and autonomy
must always be expected to be the most pressing concerns when foreign
military bases are established in a country, as it was in the case of the
Philippines-US relations before the termination of the US military basing rights
in the former. Although this move did not come without concerns of
repercussions and implications on the instruments of security and power
from the national and regional perspective. Moving on, military
cooperation in general is still viewed negatively by the civil society, as there
already exists a power imbalance that enabled the call for cooperation in
the first place, and such power dynamic can be a self-fulfilling prophecy
that will probably not favor smaller countries. When smaller countries are
short in capabilities, they tend to become more dependent on great
powers, which often becomes the foundation where the right to
sovereignty becomes questioned, and said smaller states become exposed
to a more powerful state’s system and at times, may be compelled to act
beyond their capabilities (Frisell, E. H., & Sjökvist, E., 2019).
The second problem is the conflicting discipline of ethical
approaches of the different militaries shaped by their own cultures and
perception, primary obejctives, collective patriotic ideals, and other
practical considerations dependent on higher authorities. The decision-
making design of the military is continuous and a cyclic process (Van Den
Bosch, K., & Bronkhorst, A., 2018). But above all, it is dependent on the Chief-
in-Command’s foreign policy approach. This entails the potential to
damage the credibility of forming stable relations with the great powers
and undermine the solidarity of states with long history of shared goals. And
yet, that is still not the most pressing concern. The scholarly debate
surrounding this emphasizes the nationalistic voice of the civil society of the
dependence of a smaller state to a powerful state where concerns of
foreign military intervention can jeopardize stable and functioning
democracies. This is only one of its many problems, born from questions that
are still not answered. Countries continue to face military cooperation
problems like distributional conflicts and informational asymmetries, which
suppress willingness to agree to cooperation and lead to uncertainties and
abandonment of agreement (Kinne, 2018).
All this boils down to, of course, is the right to sovereignty of a state.
The concept of sustaining authority against foreign incursions, as voiced out
by the opposition, becomes a myth when foreign powers have access to
the land of smaller states. This raises concerns of corruption and much more
that can encompass human rights, human security, and nationalism.
3. Make a conclusion based on the insights mentioned above.

Military cooperation between countries is one of the many ways to

build strategic partnership and foster solid bilateral relations in globalized
international politics. The significance of this cooperation differs from
perspective but meets at the top where common goals are shared. It also
addresses deteriorating national security especially of countries in dispute
with powerful nations. Military cooperation, in no doubt, contribute to
enhanced security, developing a smaller state’s defense capabilities and
improving the interoperability of aligned states through fulfilling strategic
imperatives that contribute to national security and better relations in other
aspects. Moreover, this prepares smaller states to combat threats that are
non-military which is more prevalent in the 21st Century context.
Transnational crimes have become more prominent, and so should the
approach of existing governments. In more ways than one, it fills the gaps
of smaller state’s security concerns and increases the capability of their
forces, modernizing their military and standardizing their work ethics.
However, smaller countries must make more effort in striking a
balance between their dependence on great powers and maintaining
appropriate civil-military relations and must see to it that military
cooperation will not go beyond the agreement. A country’s right to
sovereignty and national security are at the center of this discussion, and
consequently, they are also what pushes the civil society to oppose what
can be seen as ‘foreign military intervention’. In countries like the
Philippines, this is a sensitive issue due to the country’s long history of
colonialism, so it is sensible for the citizens to push back against any signs of
imperialism, understandably so. Not only that but military cooperation can
signal the establishment of foreign military bases where there is a chance
for an increasing competition for resources and worse, corruption and
abuse.
Military cooperation is essential in this age as it establishes common
dialogue and creates common ground for allies. But advancing common
agendas can be challenging, especially when a power imbalance is what
made the cooperation exist in the first place and thus, creating stronger
levels of trust and better clauses of agreement, notably in favor the smaller
state, are to be fulfilled to dodge a bullet that is zero-sum game.
 REFERENCES

Ebitz, A. (2019). The use of military diplomacy in great power competition:

Lessons learned from the Marshall Plan. Brookings. Accessed January
1, 2023. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-
chaos/2019/02/12/the-use-of-military-diplomacy-in-great-power-
competition/

Evans, J. C. (2018). Finding Common Ground: The Ethics of Anthropology and

Military Cooperation. The Impact of Diverse Worldviews on Military
Conflict, 19-28. Retrieved from http://thesimonscenter.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/08/Special-Report-pg19-27.pdf

Frisell, E. H., & Sjökvist, E. (2019). Military Cooperation around Framework Nations.
Swedish Defence Research Institute, 24. Retrieved from
https://app.oarklibrary.com/file/2/ae929528-cdf0-43a0-83cf-
d90bbe6233cf/1503535f-6d29-416b-86b3-43e1b810d485.pdf

Kinne, B. (2018). Defense Cooperation Agreements and the Emergence of a

Global Security Network. International Organization, 72(4), 799-837.
doi:10.1017/S0020818318000218. Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-
organization/article/defense-cooperation-agreements-and-the-
emergence-of-a-global-security-
network/76662383DB9CA3D26BE4FA883E5C95A2

Nemeth, B. (2022). Military Innovation and Capability Development in a

Multinational Context: The Costs and Benefits of Multinational
Cooperation. The Air Power Journal, Fall 2022, 1-12. Retrieved from
https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/192346104/2022_Bence_Nemet
h_Military_Innovation_Capability_Development_Multinational_Conte
xt.pdf

Van Den Bosch, K., & Bronkhorst, A. (2018). Human-AI cooperation to benefit
military decision making. NATO. Retrieved from
https://www.karelvandenbosch.nl/documents/2018_Bosch_etal_NAT
O-IST160_Human-AI_Cooperation_in_Military_Decision_Making.pdf