Proliferating Decision Makers: Root Cause of the Next RMA

Abstract

The proliferation of far more autonomous and decentralized decision makers on the future battlefield will bring about a genuine revolution in military affairs (RMA). The levee en mass is an example of a social rather than a technical RMA and, consequently, one of greater duration and more worthy of emulation. The author examines the diverse disciplines of history, economics, chaos and complexity theory, and the theory and nature of war for insights into the potential for a true RMA based on proliferating decision makers. The author examines comparative economic theories suggesting that proliferating decision makers is the root of the free market's success, and that the social and cultural habits that make the market work are fungible to produce a dominance over more hierarchical systems of command and control, similar to the dominance of free markets over centralized planned economies. The proliferation of more autonomous small unit decision makers should be a precept of army after next initiatives.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 07, 1998
Accession Number
ADA364626

Entities

People

  • Arthur J. Corbett

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Adaptive Systems
  • Command And Control
  • Commerce
  • Economic Systems
  • Economics
  • Governments
  • Mainframe Computers
  • Market Economy
  • Military History
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Organizational Structure
  • Planned Economy
  • Surface To Air Missiles
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Economics

Readers

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

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control