Arab Cultural Manifestations in the Iraqi Army

SWJED — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 04:11:31 +0000

Arab Cultural Manifestations in the Iraqi Army SWJED Fri, 11/01/2019 - 12:11am

Underpinnings of ethnic, religious, tribal, and demographic factors as well as their associated social identities remain a recurrent player in Iraqi politics and has affected the building of the Iraqi Army over the past 16 years. Researching Iraqi culture, social identities and their historical context is paramount to understanding the challenges the U.S. has faced in its efforts to train, equip, and advise the Iraqi Army. Independent thinking, creative ideas, information sharing, individual initiative, decentralized control, delegation of responsibility, and personal merit are all keys to success in U.S. military doctrine but contradict Iraqi sociocultural norms of centralized power, groupthink, and avoiding shame, embarrassment, and admission of mistakes. Training, equipping, and advising Arab militaries to follow Western military doctrine has had a history of at best mediocre results and rarely outlives the departure of Western advisors. U.S. capacity building doctrine in Iraq did not adjust to take into account Iraqi culture, instead it expected the Iraqi military to adapt to American military doctrine.

Does the Human Domain Matter?

SWJED — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 06:12:56 +0000

Does the Human Domain Matter? SWJED Thu, 02/23/2017 - 1:12am

Understanding and engaging in the human domain is essential if you are trying to change, inform or shape human behavior.

sociocultural analysis

Arab Cultural Manifestations in the Iraqi Army

Does the Human Domain Matter?