Serial Fulfillment Of Basic Needs: A Practical Application To Guide Decision Analysis In Non-kinetic Operations

Parallel operations have been the dominate focus of air power in recent military operations but sequential or serial operations must be given further consideration in today's challenging environment. Military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have p... Read more

Parallel operations have been the dominate focus of air power in recent military operations but sequential or serial operations must be given further consideration in today's challenging environment. Military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have proven that operational planning must also consider the resolution of conflict through stability operations from which civil authority may be enabled. The underlying factors which contribute to instability are directly related to the fulfillment of basic physiological and safety needs. Consequently, Abraham Maslow theorized that human behavior is influenced through the serial fulfillment of human needs. This hierarchical structure of human needs must serve as the outline by which stability operations focus effects to correctly influence human behavior. Furthermore, the manner by which an unstable country or region transitions to a stable environment and thus possesses the attributes of a functioning society occurs in a sequential progression. Thus, the focus of military operations must examine the benefit of creating effects which address the fulfillment of basic needs in a sequential or serial fashion. Less