Military Innovation and Military Culture

Abstract

This article examines the significance of culture as a mod- erator of innovation, and criticizes monolithic accounts of military resistance to innovation. It then describes a dimension of military culture focused on the concept of the ideal combatant, and how that concept relates to innovation. Military culture can be improved by: (1) engineering the competitive context for innovation, and (2) cre- ating career paths in which new kinds of personnel have a means of advancing, while preserving enduring organizational values.