A Review of Literatures

Abstract

Abstract : Conflicts, such as the ones in which we in the United States are currently engaged in, result from a complex interplay of modern technological innovation and traditional values and mores which vary considerably across differing cultures. As a result, forces from a modern western society which command the latest and dominant technological weapons find themselves now fighting an elusive and frustrating enemy who employ dimensions of conflict for which kinetic force has never been constructed to oppose. This is a moral as well as pragmatic challenge since we must ask not simply how to win but what actually connotes victory itself in such circumstances? Our military personnel need to know much more about cultures and how to prepare for these challenges. Among these cultural imperatives is the necessity to understand and evaluate our own cultural biases for the actions which we individually and collectively undertake. We need to be very clear about how such intrinsic cultural biases frame our own efforts in programs such as the present one. The authors present a living document that is aimed at an on-going review of the relevant scientific literatures in the areas of culture, attitude, perception, decision-making, risk, and associated regions of understanding. It is from this ever-growing body of information and from our own empirical efforts that we look to derive information to support the program goals we have stated in our allied documentation. This review focuses on the following topics: the military mandate for cultural readiness; culture and time; culture and decision-making; culture and conflict; culture, risk, and risk-taking; the experiences of ex-patriots; cultural competence; cultural intelligence; cultural frameworks; general and cross-cultural references; and recommendations for future research.