Forging the sword : doctrinal change in the U.S. Army / Benjamin M. Jensen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jensen, Benjamin M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Army--Reorganization--History--20th century.

United States.

United States. Army--Reorganization--History--21st century.

United States. Army.

Military doctrine--United States--History--20th century.

Military doctrine.

Military doctrine--United States--History--21st century.

Organizational change--United States--History--20th century.

Organizational change.

Organizational change--United States--History--21st century.

History.

United States--Military policy.

Military policy.

Armed Forces--Reorganization.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xi, 204 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford Security Studies, an imprint of Stanford University Press, [2016]

Summary:

As entrenched bureaucracies, most observers assume military organizations are resistant to reform and favor only limited, incremental adjustments. Yet, since 1945, the U.S. Army has continually rewritten its capstone doctrine manual, Operations. Collectively, these modifications reflect a significant evolution in how the Army approaches warfare-making the U.S. Army a crucial and unique case of a modern land power that is capable of change. So what accounts for this anomaly? What institutional processes have professional officers developed over time to escape bureaucracies' iron cage? Forging the Sword conducts a comparative historical process-tracing of doctrinal reform in the U.S. Army. The findings suggest that there are unaccounted-for institutional facilitators of change within military organizations. Change in military organizations requires "incubators," designated subunits established outside the normal bureaucratic hierarchy, and "advocacy networks" championing new concepts. Incubators, ranging from special study groups to non-Title 10 war games and field exercises, provide a safe space for experimentation and the construction of new operational concepts. Advocacy networks connect different constituents and inject them with concepts developed in incubators. These injections make changes elites would have otherwise rejected a contagious narrative. Changing military organizations requires telling new stories about war. Book jacket.

Contents:

To change an army

The first battle of the next war

The central battle

The new warrior class

Hearts and minds revisited

Incubators, advocacy networks and organizational change.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804795609

0804795606

9780804797375

0804797374

OCLC:

909777134