GALULA IN ALGERIA: COUNTERINSURGENCY PRACTICE VERSUS THEORY

Mathias, Grégor

ISBN 10: 0313395756 / ISBN 13: 9780313395758

Published by Praeger, Santa Barbara, California, 2011

About this Item

Octavo, 143 pages. In Very Good condition with a Very Good minus dust jacket. Spine white with red and blue lettering. Dust jacket protected with mylar covering. Minor shelf wear. Staining to front of dust jacket. Interior pages clean. Shelved in African History>Maghreb. 1387303. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.

Seller Inventory # 1387303

Bibliographic Details

• Title: GALULA IN ALGERIA: COUNTERINSURGENCY PRACTICE VERSUS THEORY
• Publisher: Praeger, Santa Barbara, California
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313395756
• ISBN 13: 9780313395758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Dupont Circle
  • Warfare and Conflict
  • World History

About this title

Synopsis

This groundbreaking investigation uncovers serious mismatches between David Galula's counterinsurgency practice in Algeria and his counterinsurgency theory―the foundation of current U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Given the centrality of David Galula's theory to U.S. Counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is striking that there has been no independent evaluation of Galula's recollection of his COIN operations in Algeria. Galula in Algeria: Counterinsurgency Practice versus Theory delivers just such an analysis, exploring the colonial French counter-insurrectionary theoretical milieu of which Galula's COIN theory was a part, the influence of Galula's theory on U.S. COIN doctrine, and the current views of Galula's theory in France and other NATO countries.

French defense researcher Grégor Mathias compares each of the eight steps of Galula's theory set out in Counterinsurgency Warfare against his practice of them as described in his writings and now, for the first time, against the SAS archives and those of Galula's infantry company and battalion. The study shows that Galula systematically inflated his operational successes to match his theoretical scheme and that he left problems unresolved, causing his work to unravel quickly after he left his command. Mathias concludes that, however heuristically fruitful Galula's theory might prove for U.S. COIN doctrine, it must be interpreted and implemented under the caveat that it was not successfully field-tested by its author.

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About the Author

Grégor Mathias is Service Historique de la Defense researcher specializing in the Algerian War and professor of history and geography at the College Foch a Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.