Strategic communications is a key means of gaining acceptance of one's ideas, policies or courses of action. As such it plays a critical role in helping the United States to reinforce understanding of its values and culture — including support for its ideas, policies and courses of action — both within its war-fighting establishment and by the rest of the world. This article examines the historical actions of military chaplains to shed light on a critical aspect of their work; their ministries as strategic communications platforms from which they carry out a pastoral role while offering, as valued members of the military inner circle, religious, moral, spiritual and ethical advice to leadership, both at the strategic and tactical levels. It examines the role of the American military chaplaincy as a strategic communications phenomenon that predates the concept itself. A buzzword emanating from the 1990s that gained even greater currency in the September 11, 2001 global "war of ideas" — "strategic communications" might appear to be a new concept. Yet for centuries military chaplains have labored as strategic communicators in an effort to win support within the armed forces for their countries' national policy and doctrine.
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In Latin America, where limited probabilities of international conflict are envisioned, the Armed Forces in democratic countries perform multiple tasks. This paper analyzes four of these tasks, leaving aside the traditional mobilization in the event of natural catastrophes: the fight against drug trafficking; the fight against insurgent organizations and terrorism; control of land conflicts; and the protection of government property. When we understand this multiplicity of tasks, we understand that it is essential to keep in mind the complexity of factors that impact on, and interact in, each particular national case. These factors are of a political, historical, geographical and cultural nature, and can be both structural and situational. Ignoring this heterogeneity and adopting positions in standard terms of what "should be" in this area would mean relying on erroneous assumptions and standards.
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After the Cold War, European countries, in both East and West, faced the same question, namely how their military organizations and those of their neighbors would respond to changes in international relationships, to their perceptions of the threats (whether regional or global) and to the control of security among nations. Faced with this new reality, their processes of change were inevitably influenced by a new conception of roles framed in cooperation and, even more so, in integration. These new demands made it imperative, in view of such processes, to obtain a degree of acceptable "interoperability" among their armed forces. In a regional context of differing alliances, our American region and specifically its armed forces has increasingly transitioned into specific activities of cooperation, particularly into integrating multinational forces for Peacekeeping Missions (e.g. MINUSTAH in Haiti), in which the "interoperability" factor has played an key role with regard to its employment and the degree of achievement of the mission. This article seeks to highlight, from an objective academic point of view, the importance of such capacities in an atmosphere of cooperation and integration among armed forces.
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Scholars have analyzed participation by civilians in defense ministries in Latin America from a dual perspective: as part of a civilian-military integration and as an instrument of civilian control of the sector. These practices have been adopted in a context of democratic consolidation and, in the governmental sphere, of a demand for rationalization and greater efficiency and effectiveness in the conduct of government. The case of Chile is a good example of this. Since the restoration of democracy (1990), the inclusion of civilians in the Ministry has been a constant. All of the ministers have been civilians, as have all undersecretaries; however, because the Ministry does not have a permanent staff of civilian professionals, an Advisory Committee has gradually and inorganically developed within the Ministry, which brings in people who provide advisory services on political, politico-strategic, budgetary, international, communications and auditing issues.
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This paper covers a part of the post-doctoral research conducted by the author at UNESP-Franca in 2005. It is an analytical comparison between the military-naval education models developed in Brazil and Argentina within the context of the post-authoritarian regimes that are current nowadays. Also, two main aspects regarding professional training in both countries is dealt with within the context of any regional cooperation agreements and the Mercosur.
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This article deals with the significant role technological innovations play in the strengthening of Brazil's military capabilities, based on the qualitative nature of modern warfare, and any security issues that the nation faces in early 21st Century. Thus, it reviews the phenomenon that many authors call the RAM (Revolution in Military Affairs) of the nineties, resulting from the IT process of the combat means. But any political implications are more relevant than any mere operational issues of this RAM, to the extent that it provides a cost reduction for the nations that are at the forefront of the interventionism as an instrument of international action. However, it has also generated vulnerabilities, and improved the involvement of non-governmental protagonists in armed conflicts. Based on these verifications, the article seeks to show the consequences of this new geo-strategic scheme for Brazil and, using any plausible threats for the country as criteria, it intends to discriminate any items of the present RAM that need to be incorporated into the Armed Forces structure, based on the premise that any economic reactivation of the national warfare industry is a required condition to channel any significant investment to P&D military efforts. Thus, the article seeks to find out which are the variables that interfere with the problem to design a strategy to facilitate, with any limited resources available, an adequate solution to sort any hurdles for streamlining the Armed Forces.
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The world is perplexed at the changes that are inexorably and definitively altering the way it operates. This is partially revealed in the technological progress achieved in the last fifteen years. But the change is not only technological; it is also human, and we believe that therein lies part of the solution. The speed at which this change has occurred and will continue to occur is the fundamental feature of the process we are experiencing and will put most, if not all, existing paradigms to the test. It is therefore worthwhile to ask ourselves what will motivate the leaders of these organizations to recognize the existence of change as an increasingly widespread cultural phenomenon, to embrace its philosophy and promote the appropriate changes to align themselves with reality. The final result would be forces designed with a high degree of interoperability, able to interact with other forces on a regional level. Modernization, transformation, both or neither? A conceptual approach to this fascinating topic will allow us to clarify ideas, to ultimately ensure that interoperability is not the problem; it is simply part of the solution.
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The document presents a study of how many components of the process of change in the United States of America can influence or come to have an influence on operational compatibility between the Argentina Navy and the US Navy within the medium term, in accordance with the leadership guidelines, and believing that it could serve as a foundation for a series of discussion meetings on this issue. The "joint" setting is a vital component in the following analysis, as it is one of the conceptual bases of the aforementioned change.
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