Since the end of World War II, there have been 181 insurgencies around the world. Today, there are over three dozen violent insurgencies, including in such high-profile countries as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. These insurgencies have been led by a range of groups, from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to the Taliban in Afghanistan. In fact, most warfare today occurs in the form of insurgencies. If we are to understand modern warfare, we need to understand insurgencies. While numerous books have been written on the subject of insurgencies, there is no book that brings together all of what we know into one accessible volume that policymakers can understand and use. Waging Insurgent Warfare is that book. Seth G. Jones, who has been deeply involved in the Afghanistan war over the last decade, aims to help policymakers, scholars, and general readers better understand how groups start, wage, and end insurgencies. He weaves together examples from today and from recent history into an analytic synthesis that focuses on several sets of questions. First, what factors contribute to the rise of an insurgency? Second, what are the key components involved in conducting an insurgency? As he explains, insurgent groups need to decide on a strategy, employ a range of tactics, select an organizational structure, secure outside aid from state and non-state actors, and conduct information campaigns. They then have to routinely re-assess these decisions over the course of an insurgency. Third, what factors contribute to the end of insurgencies? Finally, what do the answers to these questions mean for the conduct of counterinsurgency warfare? Waging Insurgent Warfare is not only a practical handbook for understanding insurgent warfare, but it also has implications for waging counterinsurgent warfare. Highly readable, empirically sophisticated, and historically informed, Waging Insurgent Warfare will become a standard work on the topic.

About the Author
Seth G. Jones is director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation, as well as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He served in several positions at U.S. Special Operations Command, including as a plans officer and advisor to the commanding general for U.S. Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan).

Reviews
"Insurgencies have been among the most common forms of warfare since before the Cold War ended. This book examines how they begin, how they fight, and how to defeat them." -- Military Heritage "With Waging Insurgent Warfare, Seth Jones has focused his prodigious analytical talents to write one of the clearest and most authoritative analyses of insurgency and counterinsurgency available. Comprehensive and compelling, this book is a timely and invaluable guide to understanding the modern trajectory of this particularly challenging form of conflict." -- Professor Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University "There are few scholars who combine Seth Jones' learning and on-the-ground experience. He has distilled both into this concise study of insurgency, and it is first rate: the best overview of this form of warfare in print, and likely to remain so for years to come." -- Eliot A. Cohen, Johns Hopkins SAIS "A thoughtful, original, and comprehensive analysis of how insurgencies start; the strategies, tactics, and organizational approaches they adopt; and their need for foreign support."- Foreign Affairs



Book Information
ISBN 9780190600860
Author Seth G. Jones
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 658g
Dimensions(mm) 157mm * 236mm * 33mm