Adaptive Politics, Social Learning, and Military Institutions.
Abstract
Rates and forms of change in post-industrial societies will increasingly test the viability of democratic political systems. Social learning must become faster and more powerful as the deadline on political demands becomes shorter and the complexity and variety of demands become greater. The military can play an almost uniquely helpful role in social learning. Social scientists have the qualifications and much of the responsibility for use of the military as a national resource for the testing and evaluation of social inventions. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the rationale for the foregoing assertions and to indicate the content of a social learning role for the military. Accordingly, the first part of the paper suggests alternative views of key relationships between the political order and the military, and how social scientists can relate to problems of the military role. The last sections are concerned with the future. One asserts a set of normative goals for the political process and parameters which affect their pursuit which are provided by domestic social trends and military developments. The other develops the social learning role as a means to achieve political process goals within the constraints of the parameters discussed. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 25, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0715361
Entities
People
- Davis B. Bobrow
Organizations
- Smithsonian Institution