The New Counter-insurgency Era in Critical Perspective

The notion of counter-insurgency has become a dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This volume brings together international academics and practitioners to evaluate the broader theoretical and historical factors that underpin COIN, providing a critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking.

"This comprehensive volume carefully considers counterinsurgency doctrine in action. It's overall conclusions point to the strategic futility of this tactical doctrine and its contribution to the failure of U.S. military power in Iraq and Afghanistan.' - Col (ret) Douglas Macgregor, USA, author of Warrior's Rage, Transformation under Fire and Breaking the Phalanx

"A timely and path-breaking series of analyses that show the shortcomings, but also the enduring features, of the counter-insurgency debate of recent years. A future research agenda is clearly cut out for us." - Isabelle Duyvesteyn, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

"This is a book that no one interested in the way COIN seduced policymakers can afford not to read - and read again. Each chapter casts new light on the theory and practice of counterinsurgency warfare from after World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. All the authors demonstrate both special knowledge and general understanding of the issues. Explored in all its variations, the basic theme is the contradiction of an outside force promising to protect a population against its local enemies, and in the end creating a dependency." - Lloyd Gardner, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA and author of the forthcoming Killing Machine: the American Presidency in the Age of Drone Warfare

Autorentext
Huw Bennett, Aberystwyth University, UK John Bew, King's College London, UK Stephen Biddle, George Washington University, USA Ryan Evans, King's College London, UK Matthew Ford, University of Sussex, UK Jeffrey A. Friedman, Dartmouth College, USA Gian Gentile, United States Military Academy at West Point, USA Colin Jackson, U.S. Naval War College, USA Jeffrey Michaels, King's College London, UK Douglas Porch, Naval Postgraduate School, USA William Rosenau, Center for Strategic Studies, USA Joshua Rovner, US Naval War College, USA Paul Schulte, Kings College London, USA Jacob Shapiro, Princeton University, USA Paul Staniland, University of Chicago, USA Bing West, former Assistant Secretary of Defense and combat Marine James Worrall, University of Leeds, UK.

Inhalt
Introduction; Celeste Ward Gventer, David Martin Jones and M.L.R Smith PART I: COUNTERINSURGENCY: HISTORY AND THEORY 1. Minting New COIN: Critiquing Counter-insurgency Theory; David Martin Jones, Celeste Ward Gventer and M.L.R Smith 2. COIN and the Chameleon: The Categorical Errors of Trying to Divide the Indivisible; M.L.R Smith 3. Our Own Worst Enemy: The Unspoken Paradox of Large-Scale Expeditionary COIN; Jeffrey Michaels 4. Government in a Box? Counter-insurgency, State Building, and the Technocratic Conceit; Colin Jackson 5. 'Our Ghettos, Too, Need a Lansdale': American Counter-insurgency Abroad and at Home in the Vietnam Era; William Rosenau 6. Bringing The Soil Back In: Control and Territoriality in Western and Non-Western COIN; James Worrall 7. Counter-insurgency and Violence Management; Paul Staniland 8. Mass, Methods, and Means: The Northern Ireland 'Model' of Counter-insurgency; John Bew 9. David Galula and the Revival of COIN in the US Military; Douglas Porch PART II: COUNTER-INSURGENCY IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN? 10.Testing the Surge: Why Did Violence Decline in Iraq in 2007?; Stephen Biddle, Jeffrey A. Friedman and Jacob N. Shapiro 11. After a Decade of Counter-insurgency, Eliminate Nation-building from US Military Manuals; Bing West 12. The Conceit of American Counter-insurgency; Gian Gentile 13. 'The Population is the Enemy': Control, Behaviour, and Counter-insurgency in Central Helmand Province, Afghanistan; Ryan Evans 14. The Reluctant Counter-insurgents: Britain's Absent Surge in Southern Iraq; Huw Bennett PART III: COUNTER-INSURGENCY AND FUTURE WARFARE 15. Questions about COIN after Iraq and Afghanistan; Joshua Rovner 16. The Military Utility & Interventions Post-Afghanistan: Reassessing Ends, Ways and Means; Matthew Ford 17. 'What Do We Do If We Are Never Going to Do This Again: Western Counter-insurgency Choices after Iraq and Afghanistan'; Paul Schulte