Increased existential threats demand that Western Democracies and their armed forces can swiftly scale up, rapidly expanding their capabilities to deter potential adversaries and defend borders effectively. The principle of scaling also applies to crisis response systems in general; the larger the disaster scope, the more crucial scalability becomes to alleviate suffering. From a multidisciplinary viewpoint, this book introduces fresh insights into the concept of scaling by examining scalability within security contexts.
This book is structured in three parts. The first part, explores historical perspectives, demonstrating that scaling is deeply rooted in military policy, strategy and practices. The second part, “Organising Scalability,” highlights innovative methods and empirical examples of scaling. The final part, “Enabling Scalability,” outlines essential resources and popular support to implement scalability.
The conclusion presents a new definition and structured process model of scalability. It emphasizes that establishing and organising scalable organizations is complex but feasible. However, it poses a critical question: is our social fabric robust enough to support scaling and are we prepared to defend our core values if war and crises come?
Huib Zijderveld MSc. served as an air force reservist, and as artillery, intelligence, and CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation) officer. His PhD research examines the domestic role of armed forces, particularly how civil-military organizations and networks develop, adapt and create legitimacy. He is research fellow at the Netherlands Defense Academy to bridge his academic research with military service. Drawing on both military and academic experience, Huib Zijderveld aims to strengthen the resilience of security organizations and society as a whole.
Floribert Baudet is professor of Military History at the Netherlands Defense Academy and the University of Amsterdam. He received his PhD in the history of international relations from Utrecht University. He has published widely on a variety of topics, including the former Yugoslavia, Dutch foreign and defence policy, the war of aggression against Ukraine, and total defence.
Annelies van Vark works as a senior advisor for the Defense Staff, Ministry of Defense. Her current focus is on scalability of the Dutch armed forces in preparation for a possible military conflict. She is also an external PhD candidate at Leiden University, finishing her dissertation on the changing domestic role of the armed forces in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland from a civil-military relations perspective.
René Moelker is associate professor of Armed Forces and Society at the Netherlands Defence Academy. His field of study ranges from military technology to military families, from veterans to naval history, from international collaboration to national use of the Armed Forces.
Edwin Dado is associate professor of Military Engineering at the Faculty of Military Sciences of the Netherlands Defence Academy. His current research interests include, project- and process management, area denial, hydraulic warfare and building information modelling.
Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Ronald Vuijk is appointed as civil-military interaction advisor at the Economics network of 1CMI in Apeldoorn. His research focuses on public administration, in particular local government and resilient government. He is an associate advisor at consultancy firm Berenschot and a guest researcher at Radboud University. He received his PhD in public administration from Radboud University in 2020. Ronald was a member of the Standing Committee on Defense of Dutch parliament (House of Representatives) from 2012 to 2017.
