Culture and Coercion

Any military strategy short of imposing one’s will through brute force must ultimately influence the adversary’s political leadership. That leadership is a product of unique political and cultural systems. Operational-level strategists rarely have a sophisticated understanding of all potential adversary political and cultural systems and, therefore, are ill-equipped to develop influence campaigns without outside assistance. This thesis seeks to answer the question 'is there a formal link between military strategists and the political and cultural expertise they need to formulate adequatestrategies during campaign planning?' This thesis uses coercion theory to determine the kinds of expertise strategists need for developing influence or coercive strategies. At a minimum, strategists must know who the adversary decision makers are, what they value,and how they make decisions. Strategists need analysis based on a sophisticated understanding of the adversary’s political, cultural, and psychological make-up.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.