The Archipelago

Our mission is to provide a window onto the world of reflexive military practitioners for education and research purposes. We define reflexive as practitioners bringing to consciousness ‘being in the know’ (ontology), ‘knowing how to know’ (epistemology) and ‘doing in the know’ (methodology) as integral parts of the sensemaking and (un)making of contemporary conflicts. While some practitioners developed this capacity tacitly, the promises of design thinking are contributing to large-scale institutionalization (and deinstitutionalization) in more and more defence organizations every year. Hence the metaphor of Archipelago to capture the uniqueness of each individual and organization finding inspiration in the same emerging paradigm around the world. This platform invites leading commanders, planners, developers and instructors to share their experiences in order to address the potentials, limits and dangers of this emerging reflexive turn in military affairs and strategic studies.

Philippe Beaulieu-B., Ph.D. & Philippe Dufort, Ph.D., Project Directors