Hearts & Minds That Matter Most: Maintaining American National Will
The national will of the United States, and other democratic nations, is far more vulnerable today than in the past. Changes in society and technology have allowed enemies to adapt. The character of war has evolved into a more unorthodox type of warfare; one that uses transnational networks and information age technology to conduct guerrilla tactics, terrorism, and psychological warfare against vastly more powerful nations on a scale never seen before in history. Adversaries avoid conventional military engagements, exploit democratic vulnerabilities, and directly target national will in the attempt to slowly influence a long-term shift in that will. It is imperative for the U.S. government and the American people to understand this threat and find a strategy to maintain national will in the face of a determined foe. National will is the collective degree of political and popular support for national policies, foreign and domestic. This monograph divides those things that influence national will into two separate categories: contextual influencers and instruments of influence. Contextual influencers are the content of the information that affects national will: the perception of legitimacy, the perception of threat, and the perceived cost-benefit of the action. Instruments of influence are the vehicles that frame and transmit that information that affects national will: primarily the media, political rhetoric and opinion-maker engagement. Using this model of national will, this monograph examines several historical case studies of previous American conflicts (World War II, Vietnam, Somalia, Bosnia, and the Global War on Terror, including Iraq) to explain trends and identify ways national will can be nurtured and leveraged in future conflicts. The context of information and the instruments that provide that information both have an affect on national will. There is a correlation between favorable contexts, supportive instruments, and retaining national will. Those ca
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