Sextus: You can break a man's skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? [taps his head] How do you fight an idea?
Messala: Sextus, you ask how to fight an idea. Well, I'll tell you how... with another idea!
Ben Hur (1959)
Messala: Sextus, you ask how to fight an idea. Well, I'll tell you how... with another idea!
Ben Hur (1959)
In 2014, the city of Mosul fell to a battalion sized group of fighters in six days. ISIS used engagement, social media, YouTube videos, and grievances of Sunni disempowerment to fuel this amazing success. In the same year, the Russians seized the Crimean Peninsula with little green men and began an assault on the Eastern portions of the Ukraine initiated by gangs and thugs. These are examples of narrative war – conflict in which narrative use and manipulation is the decisive operation and organized conventional military violence is a shaping operation. Such is the present and near future of war.
An understanding of ISIS provides an excellent framework for understanding narrative war. Who and what is ISIS? When and why did it form? And, how does it use maneuver in the narrative space to effectively achieve conflict success against significantly more powerful opponents?
Understanding ISIS is only a tool to developing essential understanding for present and future opponents whether they be non-state, sub-state, post-state, or peer or whether the conflict be counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, or large-scale combat operations.
An understanding of ISIS provides an excellent framework for understanding narrative war. Who and what is ISIS? When and why did it form? And, how does it use maneuver in the narrative space to effectively achieve conflict success against significantly more powerful opponents?
Understanding ISIS is only a tool to developing essential understanding for present and future opponents whether they be non-state, sub-state, post-state, or peer or whether the conflict be counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, or large-scale combat operations.
The following presentations will be given at the Kansas City Public Library in 2019. Presentations are open to the public:
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Check out
Narrative Strategies Monthly Journal
Narrative Strategies Monthly Journal
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Also coming in 2019 -- ISIS: The Essential Reference Guide
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College 2018 Military Educator of the Year
© 2016-2018 Brian L. Steed - narrativespace.net
Disclaimer
All opinions and suppositions expressed on this website are entirely those of the author and in no way reflect the positions, opinions, or policies of the United States Army, the United States Department of Defense, or any official or
agency of the United States government.
All opinions and suppositions expressed on this website are entirely those of the author and in no way reflect the positions, opinions, or policies of the United States Army, the United States Department of Defense, or any official or
agency of the United States government.