Wicked Problems, Creative Thinking, and the Transcendentalist
by Major Michael Few, Small Wars Journal
Wicked Problems, Creative Thinking, and the Transcendentalist (Full PDF Article)
Eighteen months ago, I embarked on a journey to pursue an academic solution for Iraq. After redeploying from the Surge, I wanted to merge the gap between counter-insurgency and stabilization and reconstruction. I wanted to figure out how WE could fix Iraq's problems. I wanted to find a way to win. In truth, it was never simply about Iraq. I was trying to reconcile the world I knew as a boy with the world that I know as a man.
Initially, I began my research investigating the different perspectives of various compilations of social sciences. I examined Zaganiyah from the objective lens of the anthropologist, the economist, the historian, and the sociologist. Each lens provided a unique insight but no solution. At the end of every path, I felt like I was running into a brick wall. I searched past social sciences and attempted to merge economics with psychology. In this realm, I was able to devise a new way of thinking that I could understand.
Wicked Problems, Creative Thinking, and the Transcendentalist (Full PDF Article)