Brand warfare is real. Guerrilla Marketing details the Colombian government’s efforts to transform Marxist guerrilla fighters in the FARC into consumer citizens. Alexander L. Fattal shows how the market has become one of the principal grounds on which counterinsurgency warfare is waged and postconflict futures are imagined in Colombia. This layered case study illuminates a larger phenomenon: the convergence of marketing and militarism in the twenty-first century. Taking a global view of information warfare, Guerrilla Marketing combines archival research and extensive fieldwork not just with the Colombian Ministry of Defense and former rebel communities, but also with political exiles in Sweden and peace negotiators in Havana. Throughout, Fattal deftly intertwines insights into the modern surveillance state, peace and conflict studies, and humanitarian interventions, on one hand, with critical engagements with marketing, consumer culture, and late capitalism on the other. The result is a powerful analysis of the intersection of conflict and consumerism in a world where governance is increasingly structured by brand ideology and wars sold as humanitarian interventions. Full of rich, unforgettable ethnographic stories, Guerrilla Marketing is a stunning and troubling analysis of the mediation of global conflict.
In Resisting Rebellion, Anthony James Joes explores insurgencies ranging across five continents and spanning more than two centuries. Analyzing examples from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, he identifies recurrent patterns and offers useful lessons for future policymakers. Insurgencies arise from many sources of discontent, including foreign occupation, fraudulent elections, and religious persecution, but they also stem from ethnic hostilities, the aspirations of would-be elites, and traditions of political violence. Because insurgency is as much a political phenomenon as a military one, effective counterinsurgency requires a thorough understanding of the insurgents' motives and sources of support. Clear political aims must guide military action if a counterinsurgency is to be successful and prepare a lasting reconciliation within a deeply fragmented society. The most successful counterinsurgency campaign undertaken by the United States was the one against Philippine insurgents following the Spanish-American War. But even more instructive than successful counterinsurgencies are the persistent patterns of errors revealed by Joes's comparative study. Instances include the indiscriminate destructiveness displayed by the Japanese in China and the Soviets in Afghanistan, and the torture of suspected Muslim terrorists by members of the French Army in Algeria. Joes's comprehensive twofold approach to counterinsurgency is easily applied to the U.S. The first element, developing the strategic basis for victory, emphasizes creating a peaceful path to the redress of legitimate grievances, committing sufficient troops to the counterinsurgent operation, and isolating the conflict area from outside aid. The second element aims at marginalizing the insurgents and includes fair conduct toward civilians and prisoners, systematic intelligence gathering, depriving insurgents of weapons and food, separating insurgent leaders from their followers, and offering amnesty to all but the most incorrigible. Providing valuable insights into a world of conflict, Resisting Rebellion is a thorough and readable exploration of successes and failures in counterinsurgency's long history and a strategy for the future.
The first documented, systematic study of a truly revolutionary subject, this 1937 text remains the definitive guide to guerrilla warfare. It concisely explains unorthodox strategies that transform disadvantages into benefits.
Seasoned soldier and scholar of military science, Jehan Morel introduces us to the world of guerilla and counter-guerilla warfare in a captivating book that is part practical handbook and part historical examination of the major contemporary geopolitical movements. Relying on his first-hand counter-insurgency experience in Indochina and Central Africa and on his encyclopedic knowledge of asymmetric warfare, this thoroughly researched work gives us an inner glimpse of their actual nature. A world where the strong fervor and boldness of rebels need to be supported by clarity of purpose, strategic planning and perfect execution to achieve their goals: proclaiming the independence of a country under occupation, overthrowing the country's regime or beating a foreign invading army through a war of attrition. Counter-guerilla warfare is also subjected to the same methodical examination that provides the ideal structural foundation of its organization and the recommended astute to eradicate an insurgency. Its reading gives to the reader the details of the ideal organizations of guerilla and counter-guerilla alike; the infrastructure and resources needed to support their actions; as well as the minutiae of their typical operations (attack of an outpost, headquarters, a military parade, a patrol; a prison raid, a road or river convoy ambush, jungle combat, urban guerrilla, street fighting ...). It takes us to the "hidden" theaters of war that play major roles in a guerrilla: funding, intelligence, deception, psychological, penetration of the enemy, cyber warfare, communications, all of them key components that affect the issue of the conflict, yet are usually overlooked in favor of the more "news-friendly" martial aspect of war. It takes us to the discovery of the true decisive factor of the success of guerilla or counter-guerilla operations: winning the heart and minds of the local population, whose support is essential and which bestows legitimacy to the "cause." Securing that support requires outlining clear rules of engagements, having a drastic code of justice and ensuring harmonious relationships between the guerilla (or counter-guerilla) operatives and the local population. Then, taking a step back from the day-to-day cycle of actions and retaliations, the author provides an in-depth analysis of the major geopolitical and geostrategic upheavals of our era, from the war of Indochina and the bloody "events" of Algeria, according to the official language-to today's ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria, from the Colombian FARCs and ELN, the Indian Naxalites to the Ugandan LRA. Providing contextual analysis and historical background to each of these, he points out the failures of his own indecisive country in the regions where he was operating, brings a magnifying glass to the myriad of conflicts of local or global importance, retraces their roots (ethnic rivalries, political enmities, religious fundamentalism, money) and elucidates their stakes. Jehan Morel give us a fascinating book that is realistic about the present and pessimistic about the future.
David Kilcullen is one of the world's most influential experts on counterinsurgency and modern warfare, a ground-breaking theorist whose ideas "are revolutionizing military thinking throughout the west" (Washington Post). Indeed, his vision of modern warfare powerfully influenced the United States' decision to rethink its military strategy in Iraq and implement "the Surge," now recognized as a dramatic success. In Counterinsurgency, Kilcullen brings together his most salient writings on this vitally important topic. Here is a picture of modern warfare by someone who has had his boots on the ground in some of today's worst trouble spots-including Iraq and Afghanistan-and who has been studying counterinsurgency since 1985. Filled with down-to-earth, common-sense insights, this book is the definitive account of counterinsurgency, indispensable for all those interested in making sense of our world in an age of terror.
As fitting for the 21st century as von Clausewitz's "On War" was in its own time, "Invisible Armies" is a complete global history of guerrilla uprisings through the ages.
The Army's official handbook on how to fight guerrilla insurgencies. The U.S. Army has studied every condition under which it may be called into action, and the possibility of a guerrilla insurgency is no exception. As many have noted, the United States military will likely engage in more small- and medium- scale hostilities against guerrillas than in classic Cold War European Theater scenarios. Available here for the first time is the Army's official document on guerrilla insurgencies-such as the insurgency in Iraq-and how to deal with them. The U.S. Army Counterguerrilla Operations Handbook identifies what constitutes an insurgency, the conditions that foster insurgencies, likely insurgents, and the overall goals of insurgent groups. It then goes on to describe in detail the specifics of how to overcome guerrilla operations in conventional and unconventional conflicts, including: Vulnerable populations Offensive and defensive operations How to counter common guerrilla tactics Reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence Tunnel combat and hit-and-run ambushes Smoke, flame, herbicides, and riot control agents Civil disturbances and searches Psychological operations In addition, the handbook describes how strategic and political considerations can outweigh military considerations, and gives guidance on when the military's mission is accomplished.
This book explores how unconventional warfare tactics have opposed governments, from eighteenth-century guerrilla warfare to contemporary urban terrorism. The tactics of guerrilla leaders such as Lawrence, Mao, Guevara and Marighela are examined and the works of counter-insurgency theorists such as Galleni, Callwell, Thompson and Kitson are analysed.
A Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus, Kilcullen's vision of war dramatically influenced America's decision to rethink its military strategy in Iraq. Now, Kilcullen provides a remarkably fresh perspective on the War on Terror.
