Policy and the Military Operational Artist: Exploring the Civil-Military Dialogue and Implications for the Art of Large-Scale Military Operations

Abstract

The need for the military operational artist to recognize the evolving requirement for parallel and corresponding military and political aims is more critical than ever. Within the modern environment, operational artists will operate in conflicts like Carl von Clausewitz's real wars of limited aims. This monograph seeks to answer what is the role of the military operational artist in resolving political and military aims in forming and maintaining a coherent emergent strategy in consonance with the political aim. In these conflicts the operational artist must provide politically aware military advice while in the policy dialogue, exhibit flexibility through reframing and discourse during the military aim and emergent strategy dialogue, and to be cognizant of the perceptions of victory and defeat while in the perception dialogue because these directly influence the policy makers' future decision for the conflict. Operational artists and doctrine must be flexible and account for these political influences and be prepared to operate in conflicts where they cannot pursue an absolute military aim. This regular dialogue with the policy maker will help an operational artist understand the political priorities, constraints, and risks of the policy maker and enable the operational artist to provide the best politically aware military advice. The methodology utilized to demonstrate the role and actions of the military operational artist consists of a case study comparison between General Eisenhower during the Second World War and General MacArthur during the Korean War. The Korea case study demonstrates how divergent aims can have a corrosive effect on a coherent strategy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 23, 2019
Accession Number
AD1083713

Entities

People

  • Jeffery A. Wollenman

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Case Studies
  • Civil War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Far East
  • Foreign Relations
  • Geography
  • Globalization
  • Korean War
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Second World War
  • United States Government
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design