insurgency

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Hanging of suspected United Irishmen by Government troops. Irish Rebellion of 1798.

For the Half-Life 2 mod, see Insurgency (mod)

An insurgency, or insurrection, is an armed uprising, or revolt against an established civil or political authority. Persons engaging in insurgency are called insurgents, and typically engage in regular or guerrilla combat against the armed forces of the established regime, or conduct sabotage and harassment in the land in order to undermine the government's position as leader.

Military Definition

According to United States Department of Defense Joint Publication (JP) 1-02, Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, an insurgency is defined as an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through use of subversion and armed conflict.

An insurgency differs from a resistance both in its political overtones and in the nature of the conflict: an insurgency connotes an internal struggle against a standing, established government, whereas a resistance connotates a struggle against invading or occupying foreign forces and their collaborators. Under this definition, the uprisings against the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein would be considered an insurgency. Attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces in present day Iraq are considered insurgency, because Iraqi and Coalition forces act to protect the Iraqi elected government.

Tactics and strategies

Polish insurgent at a Warsaw Uprising barricade.

Insurgent tactics and strategies vary widely, as well as the type of targets insurgents attack. Raids are amongst the most common actions taken by insurgents in a dominated state or province. In addition, insurgents establish ties with other outlaws and double agents to further their goals. Some militants can also be sponsored by competing or enemy state governments. Some elements of an insurgency may use bombs, kidnappings, hostage-taking, hijackings, shootings and other terrorist techniques to target the establishment's power structure and other facilities, oftentimes with little regard for civilian casualties or collateral damage. Other elements may restrict their attacks to military objectives and avoid the targeting of civilians. Many times, insurgent groups conduct violent attacks but do not reveal the group's identity or leader. Usually, an individual with iconic and symbolic status throughout the movement becomes its principal leader against the governmental authority. Leaders of differing background from the insurgency movement itself may, at times, take over an insurgency.

Insurgents use a variety of asymmetrical warfare tactics, usually because of the insurgents force's capabilities are unequal to the authority's capabilities. Insurgents' attacks against the authority may take the form of attacks on supply trains and security forces using hidden explosives. These explosive devices, at times made from military-grade materials, are concealed or camouflaged along transport routes and detonated when supply transports or security forces come within distance. Insurgents frequently launch ambushes on military targets, with automatic and antitank weapons. Unarmored targets are commonly targeted. The congested and constricted terrain of the urban areas, and in the rural areas, offer cover and concealment for insurgents launching ambushes for a force multiplier by the insurgent force and as a force inhibitor against the targeted force. Such attacks are usually broken off before support or reinforcements can be called in.

Contemporary political discourse

Insurgency is most commonly used to describe a movement's unlawfulness by virtue of not being authorized by or in accordance with the law of the land. When used by a state or an authority under threat, "insurgency" implies an illegitimacy of cause upon those rising up, whereas those rising up will see the authority itself as being illegitimate. In cases of rebellions, the term insurgents refers to those who are not part of the decision-making entity that has the ability to make laws.

The term "Iraqi insurgency", has been used by US military spokespersons and embraced by various politicians and the media in the Western world to describe the guerilla resistance (restorationists insurgency^[1]) to the occupying US-led coalition forces and the new Iraqi Government in post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2007. Following adoption in that context, the word "insurgency" has subsequently gained widespread use by Western media in coverage of other asymmetrical conflicts, e.g. "the Maoist insurgency in Nepal". This sudden popularization of the term makes it difficult to distinguish historically accepted uses of the term from those that have been influenced by its specific application to post-invasion Iraq.

For example, Tomes,^[2] in a 2004 article, identifies four elements that "typically encompass an insurgency"[8]:

1. cell-networks that maintain secrecy
2. terror used to foster insecurity among the population and drive them to the movement for protection
3. multifaceted attempts to cultivate support in the general population, often by undermining the new regime
4. attacks against the government [9]

This characterization of 'insurgency" contrasts markedly with historically accepted definitions of the term.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

This is unbelievable. We need to adress the issue by its true name --BorisFromStockdale 04:12, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Changing nature of insurgency

One of the key debates among militaries, government officials, national security experts and scholars concerns changes underway in the nature of insurgency. "Classic" Cold War insurgencies sought to seize state power and form a national government by evolving from underground and guerrilla forces into state-like ones. Contemporary insurgencies are characterized by linkage to broader systemic conflicts or failures normally involving criminal networks and militias as well as insurgents; by their use of the Internet and other forms of information technology; by reliance on terrorism rather than large unit military actions; by the need to generate their own financial resources rather than relying on external sponsors; and by the desire to create political "space" in which to operate rather than the seizure of state power.

Government security forces are still struggling to understand contemporary insurgencies and find ways to counter them. This is a common pattern since insurgencies often take the form of "learning contests" between insurgents and counterinsurgents.

References

1. ^ defined in the Iraqi Insurgency Movement [1]"The Iraqi Insurgent Movement" Christopher Alexander, Charles Kyle and William McCallister, Nov. 14, 2003
2. ^ Robert Tomes is Senior Advisor to the NGA Technical Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, and a member of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs. His work has appeared in Policy Review, National Security Studies Quarterly, and the Naval War College Review, and is forthcoming in Joint Force Quarterly, Armed Forces and Society, and Defence Studies. [2]
3. ^ Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary [3]
4. ^ Ask Oxford [4]
5. ^ Dictionary.com [5]
6. ^ Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary [6]
7. ^ One Look Dictionary Search [7]

See also

• Counter-insurgency
• Global Islamic Insurgency
• Insurrectionary anarchism
• List of revolutions and rebellions

External links

• Global Guerrillas blog - Networked tribes, infrastructure disruption, and the emerging bazaar of violence.
• O Insurgente - an important portuguese political weblog
• Rethinking Insurgency monograph by Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College
• Athena Intelligence Advanced Research Network on Insurgency and Terrorism

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