Afghanistan talks. Experiential isomorphism in the military

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to describe and analyze the operational styles of the American and Netherlands armed forces displayed in the ISAF operations in Southern Afghanistan. The aim is to ascertain if and how these differences converge as a consequence of common experiences in the area of operations. The methodology is based on written published information, as well as newspaper, and internet sources. The findings demonstrate that although there are considerable differences in operations styles between both national militaries, common experiences urge them to learn from each other, and hence to develop some sort of isomorphism in their operations. This tendency is not unique to the military. Isomorphism is a well-known phenomenon in the sociology of organizations and it relates to the idea of supranational convergence of policies, which is an important topic of study in political science. The limitations of this chapter pertain to the fact that only two national armed forces have been studied and that there is only little primary material to rely on. The practical implications are numerous. It stresses the tendency and need for national militaries, who are engaged in multinational military cooperation, to learn from each other while trying to reach for the maximum results of their endeavors. The point of isomorphism in national militaries developing as a result of common experiences has never been described before, certainly not in terms of well established concepts of the sociology of organizations and political science.

Citation

Soeters, J.L. (2008), "Afghanistan talks. Experiential isomorphism in the military", Caforio, G., Kümmel, G. and Purkayastha, B. (Ed.) Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution: Sociological Perspectives (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 139-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-8323(08)07008-2