EVOLUTINARY STAGES

\label{evolutinary-stages}
Variation is the transitional phase during which a transformation (an innovation or an adaptation) is being generated. This is a dynamic process which begins with stimuli of various sorts. Most scholars tend to focus on new challenges mostly technological or tactical. However, contrary to prevailing assumptions, a stimulus should not be regarded as exclusively external. Neither should it be perceived solely as a challenge.11Posen, The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany between the World Wars. One of the most significant environmental changes is the end of conflicts. Post war eras constitute a major predicament for militaries. On the one hand, the armed forces are depleted of resources. On the other hand they are expected to rebuild their power while applying the lessons that they learned.
Selection - As we implied earlier, most scholars do not separate the adoption of a particular transformation from its very introduction. The institutional evolutionary framework is useful for the purpose of disaggregating these two phases. Decisions to adopt changes, reject them, or select one innovation over the other, involve a wide range of considerations, interests and sentiments. Innovations of large magnitude require the involvement of civilian policy makers and often depend on the strength of ties between the initiating and approving parties.22Balagopal Vissa, ”Agency in Action: Entrepreneurs’ Networking Style and Initiation of Economic Exchange,” Organization Science 23, no. 2 (2012). The adoptions of small scale adaptations which are especially relevant for the study of SOFs is particularly intriguing. Such units enjoy the reputation of being cost effective. The fact that most units do not require a significant investment of resources or a major organizational transformation in the formative phase keeps them in the hands of the military (or even a single branch).
Retention represents a point in which the change has been institutionalized.33Farrell, ”Improving in War: Military Adaptation and the British in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, 2006–2009,” 569. Although this phase seems less dramatic and is thus relatively marginalized in the literature, it is highly significant. The perception that private organizations operate in highly dynamic and volatile environments while public organizations enjoy stability is misrepresentative.44Lazar Berman, ”Capturing Contemporary Innovation: Studying Idf Innovation against Hamas and Hizballah,” ibid.35, no. 1 (2012): 145. The proliferation of SOFs phenomenon should be analyzed as a dynamic evolutionary diffusion process.55Horowitz, ”Nonstate Actors and the Diffusion of Innovations: The Case of Suicide Terrorism.” In the case of elite units emulation processes which are often mentioned by scholars of military innovations, are less common than deliberate exchanges of information and even training within countries and between countries.66Michael Mintrom and Sandra Vergari, ”Policy Networks and Innovation Diffusion: The Case of State Education Reforms,” Journal of Politics 60, no. 1 (1998). The knowledge base that is acquired through formal and informal social networks is crucial in the formative phase of every unit.