ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the masquerade of war as a communication enterprise, which is interesting in ethical terms, for what it tells us about the ethical relation, or rather non-relation between intervening forces and local populations. It also explores the documents emanating from the US defence establishment: policy, strategic and doctrinal-type texts that constitute the concept, as well as from the policy-oriented debate. By focusing on the written documents that establish the strategic communication (SC) as a key priority for the American defence establishment, insights are gleaned into the constitutive parts of the concept of SC, and the way in which it fits in with the discursive structure of military strategy more broadly. Enlisting Madison Avenue takes as its starting point the US military's need to influence the resident populations in the operational theatres and the adjacent assumption that the business community, with its ample experience in influencing consumers, offers important lessons.