"Soft" Counterinsurgency: Human Terrain Teams and US Military Strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan

by Paul Joseph

Overview

"Soft" Counterinsurgency reviews the promises and achievements of Human Terrain Teams, the small groups of social scientists that were eventually embedded in every combat brigade in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137404800
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	06/06/2014
Edition description:	2014
Pages:	110
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Paul Joseph is Professor of Sociology at Tufts University, USA.

Table of Contents

1. The Program 2. The Battle Space 3. 'Success' 4. Violence 5. Occupation

Editorial Reviews

"An original, inside look at the role of militarily embedded social scientists in Afghanistan seeking to win the hearts and minds of the people. Paul Joseph shows the inherent contradictions in the fashionable doctrines of 'soft counterinsurgency' and the inevitable failure of any war based on occupation, while also illuminating the ethical compromises affecting social scientists who would conduct their craft under combat conditions." - Charlie Derber, Professor of Sociology, Boston College, USA

"Joseph's book artfully evokes the idealistic intentions of the Human Terrain Teams social scientists, the bureaucratic disorganization of a program in disarray, and an unforgiving wartime environment. This book is indispensable reading for anyone seeking to understand not just why this program failed, but why civilian and military employees of the Pentagon have difficulty working together." - Hugh Gusterson, Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, George Mason University, USA

From the Publisher