What is Insurgency?

Insurgency is a protracted political-military activity directed toward completely or partially controlling the resources of a country through the use of irregular military forces and illegal political organizations. Insurgent activity-including guerrilla warfare, terrorism, and political mobilization, for example, propaganda, recruitment, front and covert party organization, and international activity-is designed to weaken government control and legitimacy while increasing insurgent control and legitimacy.  The common denominator of most insurgent groups is their desire to control a particular area. This objective differentiates insurgent groups from purely terrorist organizations, whose objectives do not include the creation of an alternative government capable of controlling a given area or country.

Common Insurgent Objectives

Most insurgent groups have the same intermediate objectives designed to help them achieve eventual domination of a country. Though both military and political means are used to achieve these intermediate objectives, the objectives themselves are essentially political:

• Limit the ability of the government and enhance the capability of the insurgents to provide public services.
• Obtain the support or neutrality of critical segments of the population.
• Isolate the government from international diplomatic and material support and increase international support for the insurgents.
• Increase domestic and international legitimacy of the insurgent organization at the expense of the government.
• Destroy the self-confidence of government leaders and cadres, causing their abdication or withdrawal.
• Reduce and, if possible, neutralize government coercive power while strengthening insurgent coercive capabilities.

What are the Stages of an Insurgency?

Successful insurgencies usually pass through certain common stages of development. Not all insurgencies, however, experience every stage; the sequence may not be the same in all cases; and the evolution of any stage may extend over a long period of time.  An insurgency may take decades to start, mature, and finally succeed. The stages of an insurgency are;

1. Preinsurgcncy:  Leadership emerges in response to domestic grievances and outside influences, and government response is minimal in this stage.

2. Organizational: In this stage, infrastructure is built guerrillas are recruited and trained, supplies are acquired, domestic and international support are sought, and counterinsurgency organizations are created by the government in this stage.

3. Guerrilla warfare: Hit-and-run tactics used to attack the government. Extensive insurgent political activity-both domestic and international-may also occur simultaneously during this stage, government or counterinsurgent forces starts Low-level military action political, social, and economic reforms; civic action programs: psychological operations; and amnesty program, may also be initiated to counteract the insurgent political activity.

4. Mobile conventional warfare: larger units used in conventional warfare mode. Many insurgencies never reach this stage, government or counterinsurgent starts intense military operations in this stage, this is the last stage of protracted warfare.

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