Leveraging Complexity in Great-Power Competition and Warfare: Volume 1, An Initial Exploration of How Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking Can Frame Opportunities and Challenges
Abstract
Modern warfare is characterized by a complex environment of operations spanning multiple domains leveraged to achieve advantage against the adversary in both strategic competition and armed conflict. However, understanding complexity in warfare, often referred to as the art of war, is rarely framed in a structured way. This report seeks to provide an initial examination of how complex adaptive systems thinking can frame opportunities and challenges of complexity in warfare. This report is the first in a two-volume report. The second volume, Leveraging Complexity in Great-Power Competition and Warfare: Volume II, Technical Details for a Complex Adaptive Systems Lens, provides additional information to support this volume. This report examines how complex adaptive systems thinking can be applied to great-power competition and warfare to aid in understanding how complexity might be exploited to U.S. advantage. This report should be of interest to planners, geographic commands, and the military science and technology community.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1146079
Entities
People
- Matthew Sargent
- Parousia Rockstroh
- Sherrill Lingel
- Tim Mcdonald
- Timothy R. Gulden
Organizations
- RAND Corporation