1-9. Uniting all the diverse capabilities necessary to achieve success in stability operations requires collaboration and cooperation that focus those diverse capabilities toward a common goal. Where military operations typically demand unity of command, the challenge for military and civilian leaders is to forge unity of effort or unity of purpose among the diverse array of actors involved in stability operations. This is the essence of unified action: the synchronization, coordination, and/or integration of the activities of governmental and nongovernmental entities with military operations to achieve unity of effort (JP 1). Unity of effort is coordination and cooperation toward common objectives, even if the participants are not necessarily part of the same command or organization, which is the product of successful unified action (JP 1). To accomplish unity of effort, forces use both a whole-of-government and a comprehensive approach. (See figure 1-1.)