Army University Press 1 January 2018 (with Jon Herrmann) Narrative space is the new battlefield. Like the physical battlefield, it has terrain that must be navigated. This terrain has been created and reinforced over centuries through a combination of forces including: familial, cultural, linguistic, and religious. In the same way that soldiers in previous decades used sand table models to explore the possible options for maneuvering against the enemy in the physical space, today's soldiers will benefit from the use of a virtual sand table or graphic depiction and visualization of narrative space.
Conflict is about influence and the environment wherein influence occurs is the narrative space. Narrative space is constructed through deposition, erosion, and tectonic thinkers, doers, and events. Just as maneuver on a physical battlefield requires one to understand the physical terrain and its likelihood to change, maneuver in the narrative space requires understanding the shape or morphology, as well as the historicity or timeliness, of changes in the narrative space. Successful maneuver in the narrative space requires braiding together a cord of words-deeds-images that support the overarching narrative.
This is a two part series of articles. The first explains the conceptual logic of maneuver in the narrative space. The second provides a practical example of maneuver in the narrative space as has happened in Indonesia.
Kansas City Star 26 March 2017 By crowd-sourcing terrorism, ISIS has expanded their influence into the Western world without physically having to invade. The London attack shines a light on this increasingly effective method of recruiting which requires zero interaction with the Islamic State in order to become 'one of them'.
