Training Assessments

The Strategic Value of Civil Protection Exercises

Reports, articles, briefs Public 2025 Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich

This study commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection provides three case studies analysing how civil protection exercises can support strategic goals by highlighting institutional blind spots and giving space for positive international cooperation and testing current policy.

The authors begin by outlining the policy foundations for exercises in crisis management as well as their framework for the complexity of exercises across dimensions such as goals, scale and governance. Through a combination of direct observation, expert interviews, and desk research, the researchers then examined three exercises conducted in 2024 that dealt with natural/industrial disaster scenarios. The Magnitude exercise involved the European Union Protection Mechanism, DG ECHO, and response teams from Germany, Austria, Greece, France, and Switzerland. The General Emergency Exercise was a Swiss government exercise involving Swiss critical infrastructure agencies at multiple levels. And the Drought exercise was a table-top scenario involving Swiss federal, regional, and civil society organisations.

Through their analysis, the authors derive three key messages. First, exercises often successfully identify weaknesses, but institutional follow-up and political will are necessary to take those lessons into a feedback loop of learning and reform. Second, civil protection is an important part of crisis management that shapes strategy in addition to tactical crisis response. Third, exercises should be convened with an intent to test strategic decision-making and governance capacity in crisis scenarios, and writing a strategic exercise doctrine can support this process and lead to long-term policy development from lessons learned.

In addition to civil protection actors, these messages can be applied to other areas of crisis management and would be a valuable resource for those working on training policy in civilian CSDP.

Reference: Kamberaj, J. & Aebi, S. (2025). The Strategic Value of Civil Protection Exercises. Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich.

Resource

PDF | 34 pages
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