Christian Tripodi
Biographic Data
| ID | 3086708 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christian Tripodi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christian |
| FAMILY NAME | Tripodi |
| SIGNATURE | TRIPODI C |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2853-7825 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 31 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Fragmented frontiers
This article surveys current thinking, both academic and doctrinal, on the subject of irregular warfare. It argues that from a western perspective the debate has essentially resulted in three competing forms of understanding, what this paper terms the maximal, traditional, and competition-disruption models. Conceptually, all have certain strengths but also a number of highly significant weaknesses. It nevertheless proposes that the last of these,…
Hidden hands
The conflict in Afghanistan 2001–2021 pitched coalition forces into the midst of a civil war. Armed political rebellion of this sort presents practitioners with a deeply intricate problem; multiple, interdependent layers of conflict and competition creating an ever-shifting ecosystem of violent competition. But in their efforts to resolve the root-causes of political rebellion in Afghanistan, Western counterinsurgents unwittingly contributed a se…
The Unknown Enemy
Western counterinsurgency doctrine proposes that cultural intelligence is an important requirement for those forces operating amidst the unfamiliar socio-political structures often found in distant conflict zones. Yet while the determination to understand the intricate nature of alien societies may appear a rational undertaking in such circumstances, Christian Tripodi argues that these endeavours rarely help deliver success. The frictions of war …
Unknown Enemy
The British Army, ‘Understanding’, and the Illusion of Control
Over the past decade, Western military doctrines concerned with matters of irregular warfare and counterinsurgency have emphasised the requirement for properly 'understanding' the social, political and cultural environments in which those militaries may operate; the so-called human and socio-political 'terrain'. This has led to a number of advancements and initiatives designed to facilitate the way that militaries may enhance that understanding. …
Strategy, theory, and history
In his 1987 work Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987), Edward Luttwak described strategy as a field of activity characterised not only by an innately complex relationship between designs, actions and outcomes, but so too by the frequent disparity between its theory and praxis. Similar observations on this subject have since been made by Richard K. Betts, Lawrence Freedman and Antulio Echevarria II. …
John Slight. The British Empire and the Hajj, 1865–1956
This is a fascinating book, and particularly timely for those who ponder the nature of the West’s relationship with the Muslim world. The British Empire and the Hajj, 1865–1956 is a revealing study of the British Empire’s interaction with the annual Hajj pilgrimage over the course of nine decades. John Slight does much to adjust and refine our understanding of a subtle and complex dynamic, Britain’s relationship with its Muslim “inner empire.” In…
A Bed of Procrustes’
This article explores attempts by British colonial officials based in Aden to extend systems of political administration to the colony's tribal hinterland during the late interwar and early wartime period. Commencing initially with delicate attempts to recast faltering relations between tribal chiefs and their subjects, the policy would culminate a decade later with the despatch of British military units throughout the furthest extents of the pro…
Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Vol. VIII, ‘ The Invasion of Afghanistan and UK-Soviet Relations 1979–82 ’
If there’s one thing that diplomatic historians like more than going to an archive, it’s an archive that comes to them. This is precisely the service provided by the FCO’s three series of edited co
Power and Patronage
This article examines the concept of tribal service as applied by British administrators on the North-West Frontier of India and in South-West Arabia during the latter part of the colonial era. By examining a series of themes within the exercise of recruitment from among tribal society for the purposes of pacification, it seeks to illustrate not only the commonalities in approach between two distant political cadres, but also the inherent difficu…
Muhammad Iqbal CHAWLA. Wavell and the Dying Days of the Raj
With this comprehensively researched work, Muhammad Iqbal Chawla provides a fresh interpretation of an oft-overlooked aspect of the process leading to India's partition. Much of the existing historiography on the subject has tended to gravitate toward the viceroyalties of Lord Linlithgow and Lord Mountbatten, but Chawla instead focuses his attention upon Britain's penultimate viceroy, Archibald Wavell. In the process, he draws attention to Lord W…
Politicals’, Tribes and Musahibans
This article examines the way in which the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier came to constitute a recurrent point of contention and dispute in Anglo-Afghan relations during the period under examination. It argues that while much attention has been paid to the way in which the activities of autonomous tribes of the frontier impacted upon British interests, much of the existing historiography has tended to focus upon the physical confrontatio…
A response to Dr. Andrew Morrison’, (issue 54
Edge of Empire
Contents: Introduction Who were the politicals? Forward with hearts and minds, 1877a 92 The North-West Frontier, 1892a 1900 Reform and consolidation, 1901a 1914 War, rebellion and the 'modified forward' policy, 1914a 24 Interregnum, 1924a 30 Frontier strategy, 1930a 39 Toward the end, 1939a 47 Conclusion Bibliography Index
Beyond Duty
Shannon P. Meehan with Roger Thompson, (Bristol: Polity, 2009) Beyond Duty is, in some ways, a cliche. Our idealistic young warrior departs for the front line full of fire and enthusiasm and, most
Negotiating with the Enemy
As Robert Johnson states elsewhere in this special edition, the Pashtun is in danger of becoming yet another Oriental stereotype, seemingly distinguished by little more than a natural martial tendency and a visceral antipathy to external control. This is particularly true of the British colonial era. A variety of cultural and intellectual influences combined to fix the notion of the ‘noble savage’ in the British public mind, reducing analysis of …
Enlightened Pacification
At the turn of the new Millennium, the American scholar Douglas Porch pondered the relevance of the ‘small wars’ of history to an international environment that had, through the promotion, or attem
Grand Strategy and the Graveyard of Assumptions
This article comprises a reply to those who seek to use the British historical experience in Afghanistan in order to draw parallels with current operations in that country. It argues that, while the conceptual and physical response to the issue of Afghanistan on the part of Empire policy-makers during the period 1839–1919 was characterised by periods of indecision and mistaken assumptions, their grasp of strategic principles allowed the formulati…
Anatomy of a surrogate
This article examines the ways and means in which states employ irregular and indigenous personnel in a counter-insurgency (COIN) or counter-terrorist (CT) campaign, in the historical and contemporary context. The authors clarify the terminology surrounding this neglected area of COIN/CT theory, and identify four types of indigenous assistance – individual actors (trackers, interpreters, informers and agents); home guards and militias; counter-ga…
Peacemaking through bribes or cultural empathy? The political officer and Britain's strategy towards the North-West Frontier, 1901–1945
In light of present day calls for increased levels of cultural understanding on the part of Western forces engaged in conflict, this article assesses the utility of such knowledge in light of the British experience of the North-West Frontier of India 1901–1945. By using the British concept of the Political Officer as an example, it proposes that while cultural understanding is of genuine importance when operating in such a challenging environment…
Anatomy of a surrogate
This article examines the ways and means in which states employ irregular and indigenous personnel in a counter-insurgency (COIN) or counter-terrorist (CT) campaign, in the historical and contemporary context. The authors clarify the terminology surrounding this neglected area of COIN/CT theory, and identify four types of indigenous assistance – individual actors (trackers, interpreters, informers and agents); home guards and militias; counter-ga…
Hidden hands
The conflict in Afghanistan 2001–2021 pitched coalition forces into the midst of a civil war. Armed political rebellion of this sort presents practitioners with a deeply intricate problem; multiple, interdependent layers of conflict and competition creating an ever-shifting ecosystem of violent competition. But in their efforts to resolve the root-causes of political rebellion in Afghanistan, Western counterinsurgents unwittingly contributed a se…
Negotiating with the Enemy
As Robert Johnson states elsewhere in this special edition, the Pashtun is in danger of becoming yet another Oriental stereotype, seemingly distinguished by little more than a natural martial tendency and a visceral antipathy to external control. This is particularly true of the British colonial era. A variety of cultural and intellectual influences combined to fix the notion of the ‘noble savage’ in the British public mind, reducing analysis of …
Peacemaking through bribes or cultural empathy? The political officer and Britain's strategy towards the North-West Frontier, 1901–1945
In light of present day calls for increased levels of cultural understanding on the part of Western forces engaged in conflict, this article assesses the utility of such knowledge in light of the British experience of the North-West Frontier of India 1901–1945. By using the British concept of the Political Officer as an example, it proposes that while cultural understanding is of genuine importance when operating in such a challenging environment…
Enlightened Pacification
At the turn of the new Millennium, the American scholar Douglas Porch pondered the relevance of the ‘small wars’ of history to an international environment that had, through the promotion, or attem
Fragmented frontiers
This article surveys current thinking, both academic and doctrinal, on the subject of irregular warfare. It argues that from a western perspective the debate has essentially resulted in three competing forms of understanding, what this paper terms the maximal, traditional, and competition-disruption models. Conceptually, all have certain strengths but also a number of highly significant weaknesses. It nevertheless proposes that the last of these,…
Power and Patronage
This article examines the concept of tribal service as applied by British administrators on the North-West Frontier of India and in South-West Arabia during the latter part of the colonial era. By examining a series of themes within the exercise of recruitment from among tribal society for the purposes of pacification, it seeks to illustrate not only the commonalities in approach between two distant political cadres, but also the inherent difficu…
Politicals’, Tribes and Musahibans
This article examines the way in which the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier came to constitute a recurrent point of contention and dispute in Anglo-Afghan relations during the period under examination. It argues that while much attention has been paid to the way in which the activities of autonomous tribes of the frontier impacted upon British interests, much of the existing historiography has tended to focus upon the physical confrontatio…
Grand Strategy and the Graveyard of Assumptions
This article comprises a reply to those who seek to use the British historical experience in Afghanistan in order to draw parallels with current operations in that country. It argues that, while the conceptual and physical response to the issue of Afghanistan on the part of Empire policy-makers during the period 1839–1919 was characterised by periods of indecision and mistaken assumptions, their grasp of strategic principles allowed the formulati…
Peacemaking through bribes or cultural empathy? The political officer and Britain's strategy towards the North-West Frontier, 1901–1945
In light of present day calls for increased levels of cultural understanding on the part of Western forces engaged in conflict, this article assesses the utility of such knowledge in light of the British experience of the North-West Frontier of India 1901–1945. By using the British concept of the Political Officer as an example, it proposes that while cultural understanding is of genuine importance when operating in such a challenging environment…
Anatomy of a surrogate
This article examines the ways and means in which states employ irregular and indigenous personnel in a counter-insurgency (COIN) or counter-terrorist (CT) campaign, in the historical and contemporary context. The authors clarify the terminology surrounding this neglected area of COIN/CT theory, and identify four types of indigenous assistance – individual actors (trackers, interpreters, informers and agents); home guards and militias; counter-ga…
Enlightened Pacification
At the turn of the new Millennium, the American scholar Douglas Porch pondered the relevance of the ‘small wars’ of history to an international environment that had, through the promotion, or attem
Grand Strategy and the Graveyard of Assumptions
This article comprises a reply to those who seek to use the British historical experience in Afghanistan in order to draw parallels with current operations in that country. It argues that, while the conceptual and physical response to the issue of Afghanistan on the part of Empire policy-makers during the period 1839–1919 was characterised by periods of indecision and mistaken assumptions, their grasp of strategic principles allowed the formulati…
Edge of Empire
Contents: Introduction Who were the politicals? Forward with hearts and minds, 1877a 92 The North-West Frontier, 1892a 1900 Reform and consolidation, 1901a 1914 War, rebellion and the 'modified forward' policy, 1914a 24 Interregnum, 1924a 30 Frontier strategy, 1930a 39 Toward the end, 1939a 47 Conclusion Bibliography Index
Beyond Duty
Shannon P. Meehan with Roger Thompson, (Bristol: Polity, 2009) Beyond Duty is, in some ways, a cliche. Our idealistic young warrior departs for the front line full of fire and enthusiasm and, most
Negotiating with the Enemy
As Robert Johnson states elsewhere in this special edition, the Pashtun is in danger of becoming yet another Oriental stereotype, seemingly distinguished by little more than a natural martial tendency and a visceral antipathy to external control. This is particularly true of the British colonial era. A variety of cultural and intellectual influences combined to fix the notion of the ‘noble savage’ in the British public mind, reducing analysis of …
Politicals’, Tribes and Musahibans
This article examines the way in which the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier came to constitute a recurrent point of contention and dispute in Anglo-Afghan relations during the period under examination. It argues that while much attention has been paid to the way in which the activities of autonomous tribes of the frontier impacted upon British interests, much of the existing historiography has tended to focus upon the physical confrontatio…
A response to Dr. Andrew Morrison’, (issue 54
Muhammad Iqbal CHAWLA. Wavell and the Dying Days of the Raj
With this comprehensively researched work, Muhammad Iqbal Chawla provides a fresh interpretation of an oft-overlooked aspect of the process leading to India's partition. Much of the existing historiography on the subject has tended to gravitate toward the viceroyalties of Lord Linlithgow and Lord Mountbatten, but Chawla instead focuses his attention upon Britain's penultimate viceroy, Archibald Wavell. In the process, he draws attention to Lord W…
Power and Patronage
This article examines the concept of tribal service as applied by British administrators on the North-West Frontier of India and in South-West Arabia during the latter part of the colonial era. By examining a series of themes within the exercise of recruitment from among tribal society for the purposes of pacification, it seeks to illustrate not only the commonalities in approach between two distant political cadres, but also the inherent difficu…
Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Vol. VIII, ‘ The Invasion of Afghanistan and UK-Soviet Relations 1979–82 ’
If there’s one thing that diplomatic historians like more than going to an archive, it’s an archive that comes to them. This is precisely the service provided by the FCO’s three series of edited co
A Bed of Procrustes’
This article explores attempts by British colonial officials based in Aden to extend systems of political administration to the colony's tribal hinterland during the late interwar and early wartime period. Commencing initially with delicate attempts to recast faltering relations between tribal chiefs and their subjects, the policy would culminate a decade later with the despatch of British military units throughout the furthest extents of the pro…
Strategy, theory, and history
In his 1987 work Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987), Edward Luttwak described strategy as a field of activity characterised not only by an innately complex relationship between designs, actions and outcomes, but so too by the frequent disparity between its theory and praxis. Similar observations on this subject have since been made by Richard K. Betts, Lawrence Freedman and Antulio Echevarria II. …
John Slight. The British Empire and the Hajj, 1865–1956
This is a fascinating book, and particularly timely for those who ponder the nature of the West’s relationship with the Muslim world. The British Empire and the Hajj, 1865–1956 is a revealing study of the British Empire’s interaction with the annual Hajj pilgrimage over the course of nine decades. John Slight does much to adjust and refine our understanding of a subtle and complex dynamic, Britain’s relationship with its Muslim “inner empire.” In…
The British Army, ‘Understanding’, and the Illusion of Control
Over the past decade, Western military doctrines concerned with matters of irregular warfare and counterinsurgency have emphasised the requirement for properly 'understanding' the social, political and cultural environments in which those militaries may operate; the so-called human and socio-political 'terrain'. This has led to a number of advancements and initiatives designed to facilitate the way that militaries may enhance that understanding. …
The Unknown Enemy
Western counterinsurgency doctrine proposes that cultural intelligence is an important requirement for those forces operating amidst the unfamiliar socio-political structures often found in distant conflict zones. Yet while the determination to understand the intricate nature of alien societies may appear a rational undertaking in such circumstances, Christian Tripodi argues that these endeavours rarely help deliver success. The frictions of war …
Unknown Enemy
Hidden hands
The conflict in Afghanistan 2001–2021 pitched coalition forces into the midst of a civil war. Armed political rebellion of this sort presents practitioners with a deeply intricate problem; multiple, interdependent layers of conflict and competition creating an ever-shifting ecosystem of violent competition. But in their efforts to resolve the root-causes of political rebellion in Afghanistan, Western counterinsurgents unwittingly contributed a se…
Fragmented frontiers
This article surveys current thinking, both academic and doctrinal, on the subject of irregular warfare. It argues that from a western perspective the debate has essentially resulted in three competing forms of understanding, what this paper terms the maximal, traditional, and competition-disruption models. Conceptually, all have certain strengths but also a number of highly significant weaknesses. It nevertheless proposes that the last of these,…
Law (16 works) · Political science (16 works) · Law (13 works) · History (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East (10 works) · History (9 works) · Military History and Strategy (9 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Politics (9 works)