All too often countries outside of Europe, or wherever the military fight is currently happening, are absent from discussions of policy in Washington. The Global South especially is too rarely part of the national security conversation. Even among the major emerging economies, colloquially known as the BRICS, Brazil and South Africa often get left out of the discussion compared to their larger and/or more threatening counterparts in Russia, China and India.”
The WEIRD World Wars
This article draws from research in social psychology and sociolinguistics to argue that strategists would benefit from looking beyond the parts of the world that most make sense to Westerners. Getting out of English and engaging more intentionally with other cultures on their terms—including, if not especially, those hostile to the U.S.—should be the rule, not the exception, in strategic foresight and planning.