Insurgency & Terrorism: Inside Modern Revolutionary Warfare [Paperback]

Bard E. O'Neill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2001 | ISBN-10: 1574883356 | ISBN-13: 978-1574883350

A systematic, comprehensive and straightforward format for analyzing today's insurgencies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A career military man will find it worthwhile to spend some time reading and studying this book." -- Infantry

"Comprehensive in its coverage and judicious in its conclusions." -- Australian Journal of International Affaird

"Well organized, clearly written, and solidly thought out." -- Marine Corps Gazette

Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books (March 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574883356
• ISBN-13: 978-1574883350
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #847,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dissecting Insurgency and Terrorism, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Insurgency and Terrorism: Inside Modern Revolutionary Warfare (Hardcover)

Dr. Bard O'Neill has written a superb book that presents a clear framework for analyzing and understanding terrorist activity and violent insurgent activities. I highly recommend this book for the military student, political scientist and the armchair strategist alike.

Insurgency & Terrorism was one of my textbooks when I attended the U.S. Army's Command & General Staff College. The author systemically dissects insurgency and terrorism so that one may understand the causes, effects and very nature of revolutionary warfare. He examines the nature of revolutionary war (causes and effects)and the strategist's ways, means and ends. He clearly lays out a framework for one to understand the nature of a particular conflict. O'Neill then goes on to examine various strategies used by terrorists and insurgents. He discusses such critical factors as popular & external support, governmental response, and the political conditions that created the atmosphere for insurgency. He uses historical examples to illustrate specific points. O'Neill discusses the Spanish guerrilla movement to combat Napoleon's invasion, the American revolutionary effort, Soviet partisans attacking the Nazi invaders, the numerous Central American insurgencies and Cuba, and Bernard Fall's commentaries on the Vietnamese insurgency of the 50s and 60s. O'Neill also delves into the theoretical, Lenin's theories of revolution and Mao's guerrilla war strategies are particulary valuable in illustrating his points.

The value of this book is in providing the student of revolutionary warfare a framework with which to evaluate and analyze insurgencies and terrorist activities. An excellent tool and highly recommended.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent piece of work., June 5, 2003

By 

"top_cat1980" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Insurgency & Terrorism: Inside Modern Revolutionary Warfare (Paperback)

In "Insurgency and Terrorism", Bard O'Neill has provided his audience (whether a fighting man or a student) with a framework through which to analyse insurgencies, past, present and future. O'Neill states that he believes that insurgencies are likely to remain a key level of conflict in the future. I agree with him. This is an important area and one which receives all too little attention, especially, in my experience, among the armed forces of the United States. Hopefully Dr O'Neill will redress the balance a little.

The book is split into 9 sections;

- Insurgency in the Contemporary World
- The Nature of Insurgency
- Insurgent Strategies
- The Environment
- Popular Support
- Organisation and Unity
- External Support
- Government Response
- Conclusions

In each case, O'Neill splits the areas up into smaller sub-sections for easy reference. He deals with different types of insurgent groups, different ways insurgents operate, the effects of terrain and outside support, the coverage is fairly comprehensive. He also, usefully, uses historical examples to illustrate his points.

As O'Neill himself points out, no framework for analysis can be infallible or perfect, but this is a pretty good start, whether you are in a counter-insurgency situation or in a seminar room. Good stuff. It should, of course, be supplemented with further reading (a bibliography would have been useful) but all in all this is an excellent piece of work in a field that has been somewhat neglected in recent times (it isn't fashionable in America at the best of times and many of the classic texts are now out of print).

A good piece of follow-up reading to this book (especially for a student) would be Ian Beckett's "Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies".

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent framework for analysis, April 20, 2005

By 

Thomas E. Sandidge - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Insurgency & Terrorism: Inside Modern Revolutionary Warfare (Paperback)

This is an excellent framework for analysis, but you will need specialist information which is both current and validated before you can do much more than generalize in any given situation. Still, even this can be quite useful.
I came across this book while reading "Peace Operations in an Insurgency Environment", a paper written by Major Grootendorst for the CSC in 1997. In this paper he effectively uses the marketing management model of Kotler to combine the Mackinlay and Chapra theory of peace operations with O'Neill's insurgency model. Very nicely done. (I like Kotler - he seems to view business as war by other means!)
O'Neill's treatment is necessarily very narrow. Except in passing, his scope does not include pre-insurgency nor post-insurgency. I don't find this a deficiency with his work, but I do find it a deficiency with our thinking about insurgency. A common agreement among participants at the recent Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration course sponsored by the Norwegian Defense Force in Oslo is that we need to move beyond the central focus on insurgency. Necessary as it is to "calm the waters", current process does not seem to solve the underlying structural problems which then rise to a boil every decade or so -- and in addition the initial societal disturbance creates generational shockwaves that take decades of sincere and costly efforts to reduce to a manageable level. While O'Neill's is the close examination of a particular facet of a problem, we cannot afford to be so parochial.
I strongly recommend this book. Much of what we have seen come to pass in Iraq was largely predictable, at least in broad brush strokes, based on competent consideration of his model. (I actually read the book in early 2002 and have reviewed it again just this month.) Just keep in mind the broader picture -- think outside the box. We seem to be doing the same things over and over again, only harder and faster; and then seem surprised when we get the same results -- only quicker. A clear prerequisite is being able to empathize (as opposed to sympathize) with the opponent, no matter how we feel about his actions.