The strategic value of civil protection exercises

This report seeks to broaden the understanding and application of exercises in the domain of civil protection. Military and defense fields have long traditions of using simulations to stress-test governance or signal political intent. In civil protection, exercises usually focus on procedures rather than decision-making. This narrow perspective limits the ability to contribute to national resilience, strategic foresight, and adaptive crisis governance

At the core of the findings is the recognition that civil protection exercises hold unrealized potential as strategic instruments of governance validation, diplomatic engagement, and policy innovation. However, to unlock this potential, several persistent limitations must be addressed. These include a weak feedback loop between exercises and institutional reform, an operational framing that overlooks the strategic value of civil protection, and the absence of a dedicated doctrine for designing and implementing exercises with strategic relevance.