9/1 Big Question: Why do actors acquire and integrate some technologies into their arsenals and not others?

Big Question

Why do actors acquire and integrate some technologies into their arsenals and not others?

Military innovation

Changes in technology or doctrine that affect the intensity and duration of fighting, tactics, and military organizations.

Challenge of integrating military innovation

New technology or doctrine can reduce existing expertise and create resistance to rapid development.

Gendered

Associated with ideas of masculinity or femininity.

Gender hierarchy

A structure that gives greater value, prestige, or power to traits associated with men.

Military innovation and gender

Perceived gender can influence the power and likelihood of military innovation.

Three areas of military innovation research

Geostrategic environment and civil-military dynamics; internal military organizational behavior; cultural imprints and strategic behavior.

Financial resources

Resources and organizational capacity needed to develop and integrate military innovations.

Militarization and gender hierarchy

Militarization can produce gender hierarchies that enhance society's war-fighting effort.

Warrior values

Values emphasizing physical courage, strength, endurance, and willingness to face risk.

Gender and military roles

Men are traditionally associated with combat and protection while women are associated with supporting roles and peace.

Blitzkrieg

Tanks, motorized infantry, and combat aircraft combined in a novel way to achieve military success.

Organizational change

Changing broad military systems requires integration across areas such as doctrine, training, recruitment, and logistics.

Logistics

An important but understudied aspect of military innovation and strategy.

Who innovates

Civil-military actors, interservice actors, intraservice actors, and cultural factors can influence innovation.

Military bureaucracy

Military bureaucracies can make it difficult to alter internal development and reward systems to empower experts.

Military innovation and masculinity

Innovation can challenge established positions of masculinity and traditional military status structures.

Innovation adoption

Adoption depends on financial investment and organizational changes in doctrine, recruitment, and training.

Capacity to change

The ability to allocate resources and conduct experiments to support innovation.

Incentive structures

Rewards and organizational practices used to encourage innovation and adoption.

Disruptive innovation

A new innovation that significantly changes existing practices and can challenge established hierarchies.

US Army culture

Delegation of authority, uniformity, and honorable war are important cultural features.

Gender as a cause and consequence of war

Gender influences warfare while warfare also reinforces gender roles.

Command leadership

Leadership can influence whether military innovations are developed and adopted.

Material incentives

Financial or other tangible benefits that encourage military behavior.

Femininity

Associated in the notes with peace and victimhood.

Military masculinity

An emphasis on warrior values such as physical courage, strength, and enduring pain or suffering.

Gendered technology

Technology whose development, use, or status is influenced by gendered military structures.

Gendered organizations

Organizations in which gender inequality and gender-based roles influence opportunities and status.

Job segregation

The separation of workers into different jobs based on gender, often keeping women in lower-paying positions.

Feminization of an occupation

An occupation becoming associated with lower-status, cheaper, or exploitative work.

Theory of Gender and Innovation

The idea that gender hierarchies influence which military innovations are valued, resisted, or adopted.

High-risk/strength innovations

Innovations that reinforce traditional masculine hierarchies by emphasizing physical strength or exposure to risk.

Risk and military status

Exposure to physical danger can increase the perceived status of military roles.

Support jobs

Jobs viewed as less masculine but that can be crucial to military effectiveness.

Innovation and gender hierarchy

When technology reduces physical strength requirements or risk, it can challenge traditional gender hierarchies.

Crossbow

A medieval weapon that was powerful but could be viewed as lacking honor.

Trebuchet

A weapon that suddenly releases heavy weights using counterpoises.

Longbow

A powerful medieval bow that could kill a horse at about 200 meters.

Battle of Crécy

1346 battle where English bowmen defeated a larger French force.

Infantry revolution

The rise of effective infantry using weapons such as longbows, crossbows, and pikes.

Feudal cavalry

From 1066-1346, mounted feudal cavalry held a dominant position in Western European warfare.

Infantry formation

Infantry could defend themselves using tight formations such as walls or squares.

Social impact of infantry revolution

Common soldiers gained the ability to challenge and kill elite knights.

Political impact of infantry revolution

Military power shifted toward common people, increasing their political leverage.

Military impact of infantry revolution

Warfare shifted toward more permanent armies, mercenary contracts, drilling, and discipline.

Financial impact of infantry revolution

The cost of large infantry forces encouraged rulers to develop stronger centralized taxation systems.

Institutionally constrained technology adoption

Technology adoption is influenced by the political and institutional context of the society adopting it.

Longbow puzzle

Despite the longbow's effectiveness, France and Scotland did not consistently adopt it like England.

Why some states rejected the longbow

Political instability, lack of sufficient trained archers, and institutional constraints limited adoption.

Longbow training

Effective longbow use required large numbers of proficient archers.

Political stability and technology adoption

Rulers are more likely to adopt powerful technologies when they feel politically secure.

Political instability and technology adoption

Rulers may reject superior technology if it creates a domestic security threat.

England and the longbow

England's relatively stable political institutions supported greater reliance on longbows.

France and the longbow

Political instability made French rulers more concerned about internal threats and less willing to adopt the longbow.

Scotland and the longbow

Political instability and weak centralized institutions limited adoption of the longbow.

Class theory of technology adoption

Ruling classes may block technologies that distribute power downward or threaten their control.

Elite resistance

Elites may resist technologies that undermine their monopoly over power, wealth, or military status.

Pope Innocent and crossbows

Crossbows were viewed as dishonorable or unfair and were banned by Pope Innocent.

Technology and class

Technology is more likely to be fully integrated when it supports the economic and political survival of the ruling class.

Warrior vs. operator dilemma

Technologies that emphasize traditional warrior traits may be integrated more easily than technologies emphasizing technical operator skills.

Operator tasks

Tasks that reduce physical risk and emphasize technical skills can be viewed as less masculine.

Institutional resistance

Organizations may resist innovations that reduce physical barriers, bodily danger, or traditional gender roles.

Inclusive military system

A military system where technological change can lower barriers to participation.

Exclusive military system

A military system that maintains traditional barriers and hierarchies.

Coup-proofing

Structuring military and political institutions to reduce the possibility of coups.

Internal threat

An internal threat, such as rebellion or a coup, may be more important to a ruler than an external threat.

Horse technology innovations

Stirrups, saddles, horseshoes, and horse breeding improved mounted warfare.

Armored knights

Mounted cavalry associated with nobility and wealth.

Longbow vs. crossbow

Longbows had better range, were 3-4 times faster to fire, and were cheaper than crossbows.

Longbow cost

The longbow was about one-quarter the price of a crossbow according to the notes.

Longbow implications

Higher effectiveness produced more deaths and increased infantry casualties because infantry could not usually be ransomed.

Battle of Crécy outcome

England was outnumbered by France but won using longbow-equipped forces.

English longbow export controls

The English crown restricted the sale of longbows without approval.

Gender theory problem with longbows

Gender theory alone does not explain differences in longbow adoption between England and France.

Class and gender

Challenges to gender hierarchy and class hierarchy can be intertwined.

England vs. France longbow adoption

England was more politically stable, while France prioritized internal security because of greater instability.

Variation in English longbow use

English rulers sometimes increased or decreased reliance on longbows depending on political security.

Modern example of military innovation

Drones/UAVs can reduce physical strength requirements and exposure to physical risk.

Drones and gender

Drones emphasize mental and technical skills over physical strength, potentially challenging gender hierarchies.

Cyber warfare and gender

Cyber warfare reduces the importance of physical strength and can blur traditional sex-based military hierarchies.

Commercially available drones

Low-cost commercial drones can provide military capabilities without requiring expensive traditional systems.

Kyiv's “mosquito air force”

Use of commercially available drones as a military capability.

Pindyck's argument on drones

Remote technologies can reduce the importance of physical differences in strength and endurance.

Gender norms and military technology

Changing gender norms can lower barriers to military roles, but gender roles remain influential.

When should countries integrate military technology?

When doing so enhances security.

Reasons technology may not be integrated

Gender, class, political interests, institutional structures, and concerns about security can affect adoption.

Gender stereotypes

Stereotypes about men and women can influence perceptions of military and national-security roles.

Masculine foreign policy

Foreign policy and national security are often associated with strength, aggression, and stoicism.

Resistance to change

People benefiting from an existing system may resist innovation because they do not want to lose status or retrain.

Class/political hierarchy and technology

Technology may threaten wealthy or powerful groups by redistributing power.

Main takeaway on technology adoption

Technology adoption depends not only on effectiveness but also on institutional, political, class, and gender factors.