Cultural analysis is a critical part of the strategic military planning and policymaking.
Therefore, military planners and policy makers need a framework with which to analyze social culture in order to predict the potential for conflict and plan for effective conflict resolution. In today's dynamic and multi-polar strategic environment there is a heightened potential for greater conflict. One reason for this lies in the different ways in which state and non-state actors interpret and respond to the myriad challenges and opportunities of a much more turbulent global context. These differences in interpretation and response are largely rooted in differences in culture for it is culture that forms the sub-conscious set of shared meanings that guide group behaviors, perceptions and actions in the world. Understanding culture in terms of the deep, underlying assumptions and shared mindsets held by both state and non-state actors is critical for today's strategic military planner to predict the potential for conflict and plan for effective conflict resolution.