Critics gone wild
Counterinsurgency as the root of all evil
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5724315 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David H Ucko (0000-0001-8449-7293, National Defense University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 161-179 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Small Wars and Insurgencies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-2318 • E-ISSN: 1743-9558 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09592318.2014.893972 |
| OpenAlex | W2064038673 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 11 |
The Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced a heated polemic concerning the merits and demerits of counterinsurgency - the operational approach underpinning both campaigns. The two books reviewed here provide a good summation of the arguments against counterinsurgency: it is not a strategy and will fail when mistaken as such; its theory does not make intervention and war significantly easier; and even the most successful counterinsurgency campaigns have been bloody, violent, and protracted. Yet as this review highlights, beyond these central points, criticism of counterinsurgency is too often off the mark in its approach and totalizing in its pretentions. There is much to criticize and an urgent need to learn from past campaigns, yet bold claims and broad generalizations can mislead rather than enlighten. The analysis is particularly unhelpful when the definition of the central issue at hand - counterinsurgency - is being unwittingly or deliberately distorted. In the end, these two books form a poor basis for the debate that must now take place, because they are too ideological in tone, too undisciplined in approach, and therefore too unqualified in what they finally say
Root (linguistics · Underpinning · Military History and Strategy · Military, Security, and Education Studies · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
Counterinsurgency as fad
French Exception or Western Variation? A Historical Look at the French Irregular Way of War
Hidden violence and silenced voices
Terrorism Studies
Afghanistan and the Coin conundrum
Moving Beyond Population-Centric vs. Enemy-Centric Counterinsurgency
Cognitivism, prospect theory, and foreign policy change
Westmoreland was right
Colombian Military Support for ‘Democratic Security’
Testing the Surge
Countering Insurgents through Distributed Operations
The Malayan Emergency as Counter-Insurgency Paradigm
Galula in Algeria
The dangerous myths and dubious promise of Coin
Operation Motorman (1972) and the search for a coherent British counterinsurgency strategy in Northern Ireland
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,64 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |