Jeff Donnithorne

Culture Wars: Air Force Culture and Civil-military Relations Jeff Donnithorne

Publisher Marketing: This thesis studies American civil-military relations at the level of an individual military service, and considers the impact of the Air Force's organizational culture on its civil-military relationship. Whereas most of the literature on civil-military relations treats the military as a unitary actor, this study considers the services as separate entities with unique self-interest. Furthermore, each of the four services is understood to have a unique organizational culture that guides and constrains its members' thinking. Using the structural framework of agency theory, this thesis explores the causal impact of the Air Force's organizational culture on its calculus of cooperating with or resisting a national policy. The thesis reviews the relevant literature on civil-military relations and organizational theory, and then builds a conceptual bridge between them. Next, the thesis considers the history of the Air Force to discern several basic assumptions that shape its unique culture. These cultural insights then inform two case studies--Operation DESERT STORM and Operations NORTHERN and SOUTHERN WATCH--that demonstrate the causal impact of the Air Force's culture on its civil-military relationship. The final section summarizes the key findings of the study and suggests logical trailheads for extending this line of research.