The Impact of Military Education on Decision-Making Among Leaders of the Arab Middle East

Education has resemblances to military training, which is acknowledged in numerous studies that focus on the military leadership characterization, individual leaders, and their decision-making skills in the Middle East, where the geographical and geopolitical complications are manifested. This informs how factors such as education impact how effective individuals are at leadership, especially in delicate situations, when sound judgment is the only answer. The current research design is qualitative since the main data was collected through interviews in the Middle East particularly, in countries who had presidents from military backgrounds as well as analysis of the literature on strong leadership and education-related works.

The results show that military education has the power to enhance adaptive and thorough thinking, and also, embedding ethical values and discipline, which is essential for effective decision making. However, the military leaders have superior skills compared to their civilian educated compatriots on several aspects of decision making that involve risk-taking and management of risk and uncertainty. Risk-taking, in particular, worldviews can be explained by the stress resilience and strategies experienced within military institutions, which is based on the organization, quick situational interpretation, and effective work under time constraints (Kolditz, 2007: Martin, 2011).

In addition, this study forwards the implications of the findings concerning the leadership development initiatives in the Middle East. Emphasis on the benefits of military education will assist in formulating comprehensive training programs that will, in turn, augment decision making capabilities of future policymakers (Cohen,2014). This research adds to the over concerning leadership in the Middle East encouraging the necessity of education in specific and effective leadership skills that are needed in today's complicated world of governance. In respect of these goals, the results from this study will complement the existing literature and serve practical purposes in training and developing leaders in the Middle East.