Creatively Mining the Past: Critical Examination of Concepts through Historical Development (Genealogy)

ABSTRACT: In recent years, a new wave of writing by senior officers and commanders has swept across the IDF. A significant proportion of the writing is self-critical examination of the historical development of an issue, which authors introduce as a tool to define conceptual or organizational gaps to be dealt with. This paper defines the unique historical approach that characterizes these studies and argues that it is evidence of the IDF's increased engagement in self-examination and in searching for a new professional outlook. The paper further argues that this unique use of historical research is more pertinent to commanders than to professional historians.

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