Forward Military Presence: A Matter of Strategic Culture

Abstract

Since the end of World War II the United States has maintained a significant forward military presence throughout the world. The research within this paper offers for consideration the possibility that United States policy toward forward military presence is guided by a developing strategic culture based upon an underlying assumption that forward military presence is an essential means for maintaining international influence and leverage in order to ensure U.S. security. This theorizes that forward military presence is more than just interest driven to; rather it is driven by a cultural aspect. The research provides a look at how strategic culture guides strategic behavior and may limit debate over potential options to forward presence. The research includes an overview of United States global military presence since World War II, a discussion of strategic culture, U.S. national security policy decisions that led to U.S. forward military presence, analysis of this U.S. policy as it relates to strategic culture and some considerations for future decisions regarding U.S. forward military presence.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 28, 2007
Accession Number
ADA469111

Entities

People

  • Steven L. Basham

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Duty
  • Afghanistan Conflict
  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Cold War
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • International Organizations
  • Market Economy
  • Middle East
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Southeast Asia
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Strategic Security Studies