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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2024
Scholars and practitioners searching for ways to understanding and even improve the decision-making process on the use of military means could very well benefit from the outcome of this research. The prescriptive vigour of theories on civil-military relations and strategy has proven to be less foundational, if at all, to the roles acquired and actions initiated by the civil and military decision-makers. Consequently, the outcome of this study enriches both theoretical and empirical findings about civilmilitary decision-making on the use of military means.
The analysis in this study gives rise to a more realistic approach to upholding practices in the field. These practices go beyond an invented theoretical world in which the dynamics of the logics of action at play in the minds of agents are often downplayed, ignored, or denied. We ought to focus more on entrapments and the path dependency that may occur between senior civil and military decision-makers whilst discussing the deployment of military means. Applying prescriptive theory on roles and rules would prevent path-dependency would be naive. Instead, let us focus on fostering a structural dialogue between civil and military decision-makers, a dialogue that informs strategic thought and practice.
This chapter applies the most salient findings of this study to matters in the field of strategic studies and civil and military relations that are in need of addressing. Firstly, an actor approach is recommended to improve the research programme of strategic studies. The inherent action-oriented nature of this field would call for placing civil and military decision-makers at the centre of attention. Secondly, the method of process tracing should be incorporated more prominently as a method for research on the decisions, design and direction of military operations by civil and military decision-makers, since it facilitates closing in on these groups of actors, especially when combined with the framework of decision units.
Thirdly, the quality of civil-military relations is believed to be foundational for comprehensive decision-making on the use of military means and for designing effective strategies. Therefore, artificial and normative boundaries need to be addressed in order to advance civilmilitary relations.
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