In the mind's eye : cultural influence in defense analysis and strategic planning
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Authors
Chace, Christopher Bruce
Subjects
culture
acculturation
perception
strategic culture
national style
strategic planning
defense analysis
acculturation
perception
strategic culture
national style
strategic planning
defense analysis
Advisors
Teti, Frank M.
Date of Issue
1990-06
Date
June 1990
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
This study examines the fundamental influence that culture has on the process and products of defense analysis and strategic planning. It demonstrates that culture, as the primary source of the policy-maker's epistemology, is an essential determinant of the outputs of the strategic planning process. Culture has this effect because strategic planning is nothing more than collection of considered judgments made through the perceptual lens created by one's own culture. The study looks at the components of culture: how and why it forms, is maintained, and changes in support of a specific group's internal integration and external adaptation functions. Through this effort, culture is exposed as a primary cause of individual and collective behavior. As such, it is presented as a principal source of data for understanding and explaining national behavior in the international environment. Concurrently, the study shows that strategic planning, as a fundamentally value-laden process, is highly susceptible to the negative effects of a perspective biased by the planner's own acculturation. Therefore, the subjects of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are examined. This study also investigates the concepts of strategic culture and national style, in turn, is presented as an artifact of the strategic culture. Finally, a strategic behavior model is presented and briefly tested to demonstrate the methodological linkage between strategic-cultural assumptions and specific security behavior.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
v., 83 p.ill.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.