Advocates of Army Leader Development Strategy (ALDS) and the liberal arts share the same goal: cultivation of "agile, adaptive, and innovative" people. Yet, the Army does not have an implementation plan for cultivating these attributes, and its Professional Military Education (PME) institutions do not offer an expansive liberal arts education. Given the contemporary operational environment, any plan to develop critical and creative thinkers must include an appreciation of complex socio-political dynamics. I propose a course of study that moves the Army closer to ALDS's and liberal-arts advocates' aims. I develop a framework comprising nine International Relations (IR) concepts that is applicable not only to "geo-political" analysis, but to understanding local dynamics as well.

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