Contested Strategic Cultures: Anglosphere Participation in the Coalition against ISIS.

This article examines how strategic culture influences variations in combat participation among core Anglosphere allies—the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia—in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) from 2014 to 2017. It conceptualizes strategic culture through two main components: force conceptions (ranging from offensive to pacifist attitudes toward military force) and foreign policy role conceptions (such as faithful US ally or good international citizen), alongside the degree of domestic political contestation over these views. The study finds that differences in force conceptions and domestic interparty contestation correlate with changes in combat involvement, while foreign policy role conceptions, including the role of faithful US ally, do not reliably predict participation levels. The findings suggest that strategic culture is neither homogeneous nor static within allied states and that analyzing its contested nature can enhance understanding of coalition warfare dynamics.