NS3230 Innovation and Adaptation in the Military

This course provides an introduction to and critical examination of the role the military plays in U.S. strategic planning and national security policy formulation. The focus will be on the institutions and actors involved in strategic planning, the planning process itself, and the outputs of that process. Theory and process meet through case study and analysis of the evolution of U.S. military planning practices, including the changing roles of the Joint Staff, combatant commands and service components, joint task forces, and service staffs following passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act and post-Cold War international security developments. Prerequisites: None.

Lecture Hours

4

Lab Hours

0

Course Learning Outcomes

·       Understand the interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks that highlight different explanatory arguments about the causes and direction of military innovation in peacetime and in war.

·       Apply these theoretical frameworks to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the frameworks.

·       Understand and evaluate the linkages between theory and practice in relation to military innovation and adaptation.