Military Science: Irregular Warfare

Irregular warfare has become the centre of much military and academic study in recent years, due mostly to the ongoing NATO operations in Afghanistan. However irregular warfare is by no means a recent revelation in the evolution of warfare and strategy, numerous examples exist throughout history in which irregular warfare tactics and strategy have been adopted and later analysed by academics and military professionals. This author will focus on the key issues that governments face in creating effective strategies for irregular warfare with a particular emphasis on counter-insurgency (COIN) and terrorism. Resources such as time, space, legitimacy and support present themselves as key issues in dealing with insurgency and terrorism and are leveraged by an insurgent or terrorist group to gain an advantage over conventional military forces.

Modern day understanding of insurgency and terrorism has become blurred over time and thus it is necessary to make the difference between the two clear when examining strategies used in irregular warfare. Alex Schmid defines terrorism as:

"... an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by clandestine individual groups or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby—in contrast to assassination—the direct targets of violence are not the main targets." This definition highlights the use of violence by secret groups to instil fear by targeting individuals or places that are not directly related to the pursuit of their cause. Schmid continues to discuss how the killing of random targets is used to manipulate the main target, thus surfacing another unique feature of terrorism. Insurgency is described by Galula as "...a protracted struggle conducted me...

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...are such as insurgency and terrorism. The time consuming, resource intensive nature of the warfare places significant stress on the government conducting the COIN or counter-terrorist operations leading to a rapid drain in their available political capital. Difficulties in identifying and destroying insurgent forces stretches conventional military resources and prolongs operations. Staunch adherence to a set of religious ideals and the extremist application of those ideals create an inertial cultural barrier, significantly reducing the effectiveness of governments' strategies. Irregular warfare, in its most basic form has existed since the inception of inter-state (and intra-state) conflicts, it has consistently proved to be difficult for governments to deal with and no doubt governments will continue to face issues in dealing with irregular warfare in the future.