Explaining Strategic Choices in Military Institutions: Theoretical Models

Abstract

This chapter addresses the study’s methodology in more detail, surveying the scholarly literature on organizational culture, in particular the cultural approach employed by political scientists, in which strategic developments are treated as largely reflecting institutional preferences informed by an organization’s culture. Locating that culture within the Royal and US Navies required extensive archival research. Published documents such as professional journals, training manuals, and service academy curricula are also vital in understanding how service professionals viewed themselves, their duties, and their strategic mission. The chapter also briefly examines works that have employed the cultural approach to naval history over the past fifteen years and lays out the research agenda that informs the chapters that follow.