assignment

PS114. International Security in a Changing World

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Introduction to Asymmetric Warfare

1 Regular vs Irregular Wars

Comparison of Interstate War with Insurgent Wars

Regular Wars Irregular Wars

AKA: interstate war, conventional war insurgency, asymmetric conflict, civil war, guerrilla warfare, intrastate war, extrastate war, revolution*

Participants: State Actor vs State Actor State Actor vs Non-State Actor Motivation for War: Territory, policy change, regime

change, status quo Ideology, religious extremism, ethnic separatism, colonialism, culture, regime change, possibly territory

Goal: Military, economic, or political change Political change War of ... Blitzkrieg Attrition Relative Power be- tween Participants:

Symmetric Asymmetric

Overall Strategy: Direct: orchestrate military o↵ensives to eliminate the enemy

Indirect: undermine the incumbent or insurgency’s will to fight

Tactics: Military battles, coercion, fire power, troops, tactics to eliminate the enemy, convince civilians to resist

guerrilla tactics, terror, propaganda, convince civilians to collaborate with insurgency, use local knowledge, fight on own turf

Casualties: High Low to Moderate How is War Changing in the 21st Century?

Drones, WMDs, field medicine, mecha- nization

Internet, cell phones, “twi-plomacy,” new techniques to finance insurgency (oil, minerals)

Outcome: Stronger power wins Stronger power or weaker power wins conditional on other factors

Examples: World War I, World War II, Gulf War, War in Iraq (early)

Vietnam War, War in Iraq (late), Tu- areg Rebellion in Mali, ISIL

Reference Definitions:

• State: Members of the international system who are able to exert the independence, possess territory, and have a central government (COW)

• Non-State Actor: An organization, group, or collection who live within the borders of another state, but are not integrated into the metropole, e.g. insurgency, guerrillas, terrorists (COW)

• Insurgency: An organization fighting for political change whose movement is marked by the support and mobilization of a significant proportion of the population both domestically and external (Kiras)

1 2015. Iris Malone. Please do not cite or share without author’s permission

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