Democratic Counterinsurgents: How Democracies Can Prevail in Irregular Warfare PDF
Preview Democratic Counterinsurgents: How Democracies Can Prevail in Irregular Warfare
R E T H I N K I N G P O L I T I C A L V I O L E N C E Democratic Counterinsurgents How Democracies Can Prevail in Irregular Warfare William Patterson Rethinking Political Violence Series Editor Roger Mac Ginty Professor of Peace and Confl ict Studies University of Manchester , UK This series provides a new space in which to interrogate and challenge much of the conventional wisdom of political violence. International and multidisciplinary in scope, this series explores the causes, types and effects of contemporary violence connecting key debates on terrorism, insurgency, civil war and peace-making. The timely Rethinking Political Violence offers a sustained and refreshing analysis reappraising some of the fundamental questions facing societies in confl ict today and understanding attempts to ameliorate the effects of political violence. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14499 William Patterson Democratic Counterinsurgents How Democracies Can Prevail in Irregular Warfare William Patterson US Department of State Washington DC, USA Rethinking Political Violence ISBN 978-1-137-60059-2 ISBN 978-1-137-60060-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-60060-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944800 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © US Marines Photo / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Margaret Sue Carman-Kingsbury, who never forgot. And to my mother, Amy Sue Dulka. A CKNOWLEDGMENTS This book would not have been written without the guidance of three academic mentors. Dr. Kurt Taylor Gaubatz was especially infl uential. Through conversation and questioning he was instrumental in helping me identify the topic and then narrow its scope. Through numerous meetings he kept me, and the project, on track. His encouragement and confi dence in my ability to complete the task kept me motivated and moving forward. Finally, his suggested revisions improved the quality of the fi nal iteration of this work. I owe thanks to Dr. William Brenner for his guidance in working through some of the key philosophical issues involved in this effort. The concept of legitimacy is an especially diffi cult one to come to grips with and the substantial analysis of it in this work is based upon discussions with him and readings that he suggested. Since my undergraduate years Dr. Brenner has been a mentor in my study of philosophy and has guided my struggle with complex and abstract philosophical concepts. He has improved not only my knowledge of these and similar issues but my ability to think about them. He is also a scrupulous editor and his close reading of early drafts helped immensely in improving their readability. Dr. David Earnest pushed this book further than I had ever intended by urging me to explore not only how democracies can be successful at counterinsurgencies but how they may be even more successful than other regime types. He pointed out that democracies may have several key advantages that may translate into higher levels of success in population- centric counterinsurgencies such as tolerance of other cultures and the institution of legitimate governance. These suggestions led me to go one vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS step further in the analysis presented here and greatly strengthened my fi nal conclusion. All three of these mentors were invaluable in helping me successfully complete this book. It is my hope that their advice and support has enabled me to produce a work that contributes signifi cantly to the literature of counterinsurgency and which may be useful in spurring further research and discussion on the topic. I look forward to continuing that research. None of this would have been possible without my mother, Amy Sue Dulka, who has encouraged me throughout my life. She has always sup- ported me in my endeavors and has made my success possible. It is to her that I owe my primary gratitude. Finally, I would like to thank the I nternational Journal of Applied Philosophy for permission to reuse a modifi ed version of a portion of an article originally published in that journal for the section on legitimacy in this book. C ONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 The Puzzle 1 Organization 5 2 The Arguments 1 1 Lack of Resolve 12 Strategic Limitations 2 2 What Counts as Winning? 24 Legitimacy 30 3 A Population-Centric COIN Strategy 3 9 Direct Action Against the Insurgent 44 Indirect Action Against the Insurgent 51 Interaction with the Population 55 4 Malaya 61 History 61 Direct Action Against the Insurgent 65 Indirect Action Against the Insurgent 71 Interaction with the Population 74 Conclusion 80 ix
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