Thinking about Strategic Culture

The Russo-Georgian war and beyond: towards a European great power concert

“…One can say that each state is characterised by a predominant strategic culture where historic experiences has made up basic assumptions about the strategic environment in which the state is positioned and thus provides meaning to new external pressures to which the state is exposed (cf. Johnston, 1995). The concept of culture entails a certain degree of inertia, since shared assumptions and basic political-strategic goals embedded within a state only slowly evolve, lagging behind the changes in the material, "objective" environment (ibid.).…”

EU-Russia Strategic Energy Culture: Progressive Convergence or Regressive Dilemma?

“…In essence, strategic culture 'provides decision-makers with a uniquely ordered set of strategic choices from which we can derive predictions about behavior'. 14 The source of this behaviour is the whole gamut of cultural dispositions, ideational precepts, and normative touchstones at work in a given national community. For Johnston, strategic culture reveals the 'shared assumption and decision rules that impose a degree of order on individual and group conceptions of their relationship to their social, organisational or political environment'.…”

“…The determinative interpretation of strategic culture described by Johnson is a good fit for superficial readings of Russia, suggesting an entity 'where historical choices, analogies, metaphors, and precedents are all invoked to guide choice' 28 with few opportunities for change. The 2009 Energy Strategy of Russia is a good example of this national attitude, describing energy security as synonymous with the 'protection of the country, its citizens, society, state and economy against the threats to a reliable fuel and energy supply'.…”

The South African Military in Transition: Part 2 – From Strategic Culture to Strategic Reality

“…It exerts influence by generating paradigms on the role and efficacy of military force in interstate political affairs, and by cloaking the resultant constructs with such an aura of truth that the organisation's strategic preferences seem uniquely sensible and effectual to those immersed within the particular culture. 12 Strategic culture is therefore a primary component of the organisational imperative, where it serves as an intervening variable between the external environment (the functional and societal imperatives) and the organisation's expression of strategic behaviour. Stated in constructivist terms, strategists subconsciously employ their cultures to assist with their interpretation of the objective constraints from their external environment, i.e.…”