Understanding Counterinsurgency; Doctrine, operations, and challenges

xii, 268 pages. Notes on contributors. List of Abbreviations. Figures. Tabular data. Suggested Further Reading. Index. Thomas Rid (born 1975) is a political scientist best known for his work on the history and risks of information technology in conflict. He is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Previously he was a professor of security studies at the Department of War Studies, King's College London. He received his Ph.D. from Humboldt University of Berlin in 2006. Thomas Keaney is senior fellow at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies. Before coming to SAIS in 1998, he was for ten years a professor of military strategy at National War College, Washington DC, A retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, during his military career he served in positions including: associate professor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy; planner on the Air Staff; chairman of the department of military strategy at National War College; forward air controller in Vietnam; and B-52 squadron commander. During 1991 and 1992 he was a researcher/author with the Gulf War Air Power Survey. He was co-author of two reports of that survey, The Summary Report and The Effects and Effectiveness of Air Power, and a subsequent book, Revolution in Warfare?: Air Power in the Persian Gulf (with Eliot A. Cohen). Among his publications is Understanding Counterinsurgency Warfare (2010) (ed. with Thomas Rid). He received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan. This textbook offers an accessible introduction to counterinsurgency operations, a key aspect of modern warfare. Featuring essays by some of the world's leading experts on unconventional conflict, both scholars and practitioners, the book discusses how modern regular armed forces react, and should react, to irregular warfare. The volume is divided into three main sections: Doctrinal Origins: analyzing the intellectual and historical roots of modern Western theory and practice; Operational Aspects: examining the specific role of various military services in counterinsurgency, but also special forces, intelligence, and local security forces; Challenges: looking at wider issues, such as governance, culture, ethics, civil-military cooperation, information operations, and time. Understanding Counterinsurgency is the first comprehensive textbook on counterinsurgency, and will be essential reading for all students of small wars, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, strategic studies and security studies, both in graduate and undergraduate courses as well as in professional military schools. Presumed First U. S. Edition, First printing. …