Analyzing Irregular Warfare (IW) using a Narrative Approach

Abstract

Narrative Paradigm: *MANY behaviors are not explainable by prevalent social science theories. Modeling the irrational is exceedingly difficult *THE narrative identity concept states that people are essentially storytellers - the way in which people explain and/or justify their behavior, whether past or future, has more to do with telling a credible story than it does with producing evidence or constructing a logical argument. *EVERY person being perceives their life to be a pattern of narratives which entail their values, beliefs, and aspirations. A person passes and receives information in the form of narratives. *THEREFORE, the world is a set of stories from which each individual chooses the ones that match his or her values. *ALTHOUGH people claim "good" reasons for their decisions, these reasons include history, culture, and perceptions about the status and character of the other people. *THE test of narrative rationality is based on the probability, coherence and fidelity of the stories that underpin the immediate decisions to be made.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA488576

Entities

People

  • Bob Sheldon
  • Cortez Stephens
  • Robin Marling

Organizations

  • Marine Corps Combat Development Command

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Civilian Population
  • Doctrine
  • Information Operations
  • Insurgency
  • Marine Corps
  • Military Operations
  • Operations Research
  • Psychological Operations
  • Social Sciences
  • Societies
  • Sociology
  • Warfare
  • Websites

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Educational Psychology
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.