Urban Population Control In A Counterinsurgency (original) (raw)

The Insurgent's Response to the Defense of Cities

Parameters, Vol 40, no. 3, 2010

A significant and recurring feature of most, if not all, counterinsurgency campaigns is that the forces of counterinsurgency begin their efforts in the major cities of a contested country. Ideally, once effective control within these urban centers is achieved, the forces of the counterinsurgency then work outward from these islands of geographic isolation in an effort to establish political and administrative control over the rural countryside. During America's involvement in Vietnam, for example, the so-called "pacification campaigns" started in the provincial capitals and were expected to spread out into the remainder of the rural areas. 1 In the late 1950s, at the time of the French counterinsurgency in Algeria, the counterinsurgents placed a predominant emphasis on the control and administration of cities, largely ignoring the hot, arid, and inhospitable regions of eastern and southern Algeria. 2 Similarly, during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, counterinsurgency forces were positioned in the major cities of Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar to protect the "useful" portions of Afghanistan. 3 More recently, during the latter portion of Canada's counterinsurgency in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, there was a similar operational bias toward the immediate vicinity of Kandahar city. 4 The frequent recurrence of this tendency effectively answers an often implicit question with regard to a counterinsurgency's conduct: where, in geographical terms, does a counterinsurgency begin its campaign? The motivation for beginning a counterinsurgency campaign within the cities is rarely highlighted, and the effect of this decision on the conduct and ending of an insurgency is rarely given adequate treatment or consideration. The absence of deliberation on this subject is particularly puzzling because the retrenchment of counterinsurgent forces in urban areas actually favors the

The other side of the COIN: counterinsurgency and community policing1

interfacejournal.net

This essay outlines the current counterinsurgency model, with an emphasis on its domestic application in the United States. It shows that many contemporary counterinsurgency practices were developed by police agencies inside the U.S., and illustrates the transfer of theory, strategy, and technique from domestic police to the military-and back. The essay also examines the state's use of nongovernmental or nonprofit agencies, as one element of counterinsurgency strategy, to channel and control political opposition. The conclusion briefly considers the strategic implications for social movements, especially as we learn to recognize and respond to political repression. Introduction: expect repression Oppositional political movements inevitably face-and therefore ought to expectrepression at the hands of the state. But, while quick to condemn the most obvious and violent manifestations of this repression, especially when directed against peaceful groups, the institutionalized left has been slow to grasp the strategy underlying the state's approach. We tend to characterize repression as the state's response to crisis, rather than seeing it also as a means to preserving normalcy. Hence, it has been very difficult to recognize it in quiet times, and when it does appear it seems like an exception, an excess, a panicked over-reaction.

Urban Warfare: Stabilisation of Cities

Stabilising the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa, 2019

Comolli discusses the challenges that are specific to stabilisation efforts in cities. She relies on international lessons from past conflict and post-conflict situations which are of relevance for the Middle East. Building on an overview of demographic and urbanisation trends and on a discussion of urban warfare, the author argues that given the multifaceted challenges presented by urban conflict and post-conflict scenarios military or security interventions on their own are insufficient. Instead, conflict cities would benefit from ‘area-based’ approaches. The latter involve targeting aid and other interventions to promote the recovery of specific areas such as building public services in a given neighbourhood. Crucially, this approach rests on greater participation by local communities in defining priorities and strategies.

Review of "Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents"

International Journal of Police Science (IJPS), 2022

Review of C. Christine Fair and Sumit Ganguily, Editors, "Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents" (Oxford, 2014) Insurgencies challenge governments in a myriad of ways. These challenges include restoring order, controlling violence, and restoring state legitimacy. One of these challenges is framing an appropriate framework for counterinsurgency (COIN), after all COIN is complicated, presenting a range of operational, political, legal, and cultural issues. While COIN is typically viewed—and addressed—through a military lens, the police are often employed to contain and suppress insurgencies. Despite this historical reality, the understanding of the police role in quelling insurgencies is limited. There is a paucity of attention to the role and practice of the police in COIN and a relative lacuna in tbe literature addressing the appropriate role and effective deployment of police in COIN operations. "Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents" seeks to fill this gap in knowledge.

Counterinsurgency Tactics: A Tool for Domestic Policing

Unrest could be thwarted by reviewing some of these lessons in counterinsurgency and incorporating some of the tactics into the widely used community policing that is already a huge part of the policing strategy in many major cities.

Before and after urban warfare: Conflict prevention and transitions in cities

The rising pressures of urbanization in fragile and conflict-affected countries have increased concerns about the vulnerability of cities to armed threats. Changes in the character of armed conflict during the twenty-first century and its effects on cities in the developing world have exposed gaps in the planning and practice of peace and security, which retain a " nation-State bias " that circumvents local perspectives and agencies. Whereas full-scale use of military power in cities remains as destructive today as it has ever been, international organizations such as the United Nations have called for changed approaches to State tactics in urban areas. Mechanisms designed to prevent conflict or to help countries transition back to peace are particularly key if massive human and economic damages are to be avoided in a world of increasingly dense cities. Another key concern is the vulnerability of developing-world cities to low-intensity, if protracted, forms of violence by non-State actors, particularly in post-conflict contexts.

Policing and counterinsurgency: A case from Manchester

An examination of a criminal case in Manchester (UK) leading to a comparative study of policing and counterinsurgency. While different, practicioners and academics in both areas can benefit from an exchange of ideas.

Insurgency and Counterinsurgency (Charles University)

Insurgency and counterinsurgency (COIN) have since the early 2000s become a pressing security challenge. Inspired by the rise of Salafi-jihadism, a religiously-imbued militant ideology striving for what its proponents consider the liberation of Muslim lands from the domination of infidels and hypocrites, insurgent groups have mushroomed around the globe, while many established insurgent groups have increasingly embraced in their struggle jihadi ideology, rhetoric, and methods. This course offers the students a basic understanding of the phenomenon of insurgency and COIN with emphasis on jihadi groups. Paying particular attention to the closely related phenomenon of Violent Non-State Actors (VNSA), this course explores the causes of violent mobilization into insurgent groups; sources of local insurgent support, key to the survival and success of insurgent groups; and the ideology of Salafi-jihadism that inspires jihadi fighters across the globe. The second section of the course then focuses on the various strategies adapted by the incumbent to put down insurgencies: winning the hearts and minds of the local population; brutalization; and the deployment of indigenous forces in an effort to break down the local support for insurgents. Combining conceptual and theoretical rigor with rich empirical insights, this course draws on a variety of case studies to give the students a better understanding of the studied phenomena.