Theory of Irregular War

by Jonathan W. Hackett

Overview

From Afghanistan to Angola, Indonesia to Iran, and Colombia to Congo, violent reactions erupt, states collapse, and militaries relentlessly pursue operations doomed to fail. And yet, no useful theory exists to explain this common tragedy. All over the world, people and states clash violently outside their established political systems, as unfulfilled demands of control and productivity bend the modern state to a breaking point.

This book lays out how dysfunctional governments disrupt social orders, make territory insecure, and interfere with political-economic institutions. These give rise to a form of organized violence against the state known as irregular war. Research reveals why this frequent phenomenon is so poorly understood among conventional forces in those conflicts and the states who send their children to die in them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476689050
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	12/25/2023
Pages:	261
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.53(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jonathan W. Hackett is a retired U.S. Marine with two decades of experience. He has held positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Marine Forces Special Operations Command, and the Marine Corps operating forces prior to teaching full spectrum human intelligence operations and security cooperation in Dam Neck, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Part I: Thinking About Irregular
1. Enemies of the State
Existing Theoretical Frameworks
A Note on Method
A Note on Sources
Structure of the Book
2. A Framework of Thought, Action, and Justice
A School of Thought and Action
John Rawls and the Theory of Justice
The Functional Sovereign
The Dysfunctional Sovereign
Violent Resistance and the Dysfunctional Sovereign
‘Asabiyyah and Anomie
3. The Structure of Irregular War
Theories and Philosophies of War, or “On Clausewitz”
Irregular War: A Social, Territorial, and Political Affair
Irregular War and Social Order
Irregular War and Sovereign Territory
Irregular War and ­Political-Economic Institutions
The Conduct of Irregular War
Structures of Conflict: Insurgency and Revolution
Part II: The Synecdoche Trap
4. Problems of Scope, Method, Bias, and Character
Problem One: Scope
Problem Two: “Methodismus”
Problem Three: Bias
Problem Four: Character
The Human Element
5. Conventional War Theory and Regular Wars
Law and Doctrine
Doctrinal Disconnect
Wars, Conventional and Regular
6. Conventional Forces in Irregular Wars
Combatting Bandits in Small Wars
A French Vision of Disaster
The British Method
American Force
Suppression and Destruction
­Third-Party Intervention
Part III: A Theory of Irregular
7. Irregular War Conditions
Conditions of Social Order and Sovereign Dysfunction
Conditions of Sovereign Territory and Sovereign Dysfunction
Conditions of ­Political-Economic Institutions and Sovereign Dysfunction
8. The Elements: People, Politics, and Propaganda
Thinkers and Actors
The Why
Wings of Resistance
Ideology and the Message
9. A Dialectic of Irregular War
The Intersection of People and the State
The State and Its Enemies
Irregular Wars and Sovereign Dysfunction
Concluding Irregular Wars
Chapter Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

If Jonathan Hackett’s Theory of Irregular War had been available in the early 2000s, we might have taken far more thoughtful approaches in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and the many other conflicts of the post-9/11 era. Hackett weaves together his ground-up experience with a ruthless academic critique of contemporary theory and practice in what will surely be essential reading for the inevitable irregular wars to come.”—Dr. Ben Connable, author of How Insurgencies End

From the Publisher