Cultural Assessments and Campaign Planning

Abstract : Campaign planning for major operations, including Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW), continues to be a challenge for the United States military. This monograph proposes that a major deficiency in current Joint doctrine is the failure to conduct cultural assessment of population groups in an area of operations and to integrate these results into the campaign planning process. Cultural assessment is a detailed analysis of factors that influence cultural behavior and a summary of the characteristics of the culture of a given population in relation to proposed military operations. The monograph is framed around a series of questions. First, is there a need for cultural assessments in the campaign process? A brief survey of history supports the need for cultural understanding. By examining case studies of actions in Vietnam, Somalia, Haiti, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, history demonstrates that the United States either misunderstood or did not appropriately consider cultural aspects in planning campaigns. Numerous academic and literary sources such as Robert Kaplan, Samuel Huntington, Ralph Peters, and Eric Hoffer have provided theoretical models regarding culture. Many of the latest paradigms for defining the nature of warfare stress the need for understanding the cultural aspects of conflict. Second, having established the need for cultural assessments, does doctrine provide guidance, direction, and techniques for conducting these assessments? Current Joint doctrine for campaign planning is examined to determine if the processes prescribed meet the requirements of current and future potential warfare. Third, does doctrine provide a model for integrating cultural assessments into the campaign planning process? And finally, do military leaders and planners need to revise doctrine for campaign planning with a model for conducting cultural assessment integrated into steps of the planning process? A bibliography of books, journal articles, and papers is include7