Systems Thinking: A Way to Understand Socio-political Environments.

摘要

How can a systems perspective help military professionals understand and intervene in the world? Although U.S. military doctrine recommends Systems Thinking, this doctrine (1) fails to offer a useful, robust description on the perspective and (2) simultaneously recommends the use of overly simplified frameworks that fail to convey the world's complexity. I theorize that such approaches, which are more linear, promote incongruous interventions into the socio-political systems that compose a military unit's area of operation. Using a systems method of analysis that comprises both institutional analysis and complexity theory, I use a civil war case study--El Salvador (1981)--to demonstrate the functionality of this method in terms of explicating systems, causal logics, and system effects. I then compare my description with the speeches and writings of policymakers and military leaders involved in this case. I show how a systems perspective conduces to analysis that is more thorough and reflective of a situation's complexity. Additionally, I demonstrate that "cause and effect" without more complex knowledge of a system has the potential to yield counterproductive results. This study has significant implications for policymakers, strategists, and military professionals.