16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good review of insurgency, terrorism, and guerilla warfare, December 8, 2007
This is a book about insurgency and some of its major tools--terrorism and guerilla warfare. William Polk begins by observing that one factor is common to insurgencies (page xiii): "no matter how they differ in form, duration, and intensity, a single thread runs through them all: opposition to foreigners. Occupation by outsiders creates the conditions for insurgency, then. That is the central thesis of his book.
Throughout the book, he explores his thesis by examination of a number of case studies--some well know and some less so. The first case study has an ironic twist to it--it is the American Revolution. He then considers, in order by chapter, the Spanish resistance to Napoleon, the Philippine insurrection, the Irish case, Yugoslav partisans in World War II, Greece after World War II, Kenya and the Mau Mau, Algeria, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.
One commonality across many (but not all) of these examples is that the insurgency begins with a ludicrously small number of militants. However, there are circumstances where this small group will expand and, in the end, triumph over the occupation. Other trends: as the small bands successfully carry out ambushes and otherwise annoy the foreigners, others within the occupied country begin to pay attention. Often, the dominant government then seeks to suppress the rebellion. Sometimes, they become so oppressive and repressive that it begins to trigger larger and larger numbers of people joining the insurgency.
Another factor that is important is Mao's famous argument that in a successful insurgency, the rebellious ones are like "fish" in a "sea" of sympathetic people, able to hide among and operate within the supportive masses.
One interesting tidbit in this book focuses on current American counterinsurgency theory. The current handbook, the 2006 Counterinsurgency Field Manual, has as one of its authors Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, currently in charge of the American action in Iraq. Many people assess the current counterinsurgency doctrine as sound (and, indeed, if you read Petraeus' manual, you will find it pretty convincing), but Polk demurs. He contends that despite its apparent freshness, the American doctrine is still flawed. Polk remains deeply skeptical of any occupying power being able to determine beforehand if the occupation will be successful or if insurgency will develop and, in the end, triumph over the occupier.
I'm not sure that I am in accord with Polk in all details (his conclusion does not convince me), but it is a thought provoking work, and the various case studies provide historical examples of what can go right and what can go wrong for both insurgencies and occupying powers.
Worth a read. . . .
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read book, February 18, 2008
This is an important book. William Polk reviews important insurgencies from the American Revolution to Iraq. He lays out principles of successful and failed insurgencies and equally importantly why interventions fail. Shelby Foote, the great Civil War historian, relates a brief story about a Union officer interrogating a captured Confederate soldier that summarizes an important part of William Polk's thesis. The officer asks,"Why are you rebels fighting so hard?" The Confederate responds, "Because you are here."
The most disturbing aspect of this book is the repeated failure of governments to learn the lessons of insurgency, despite repeated costly failures that have been widely recorded. A common line currently about the Iraq war is that if the U.S. had only planned better, we would have a better result. William Polk argues otherwise. In addition, he is rightly critical of the Army Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which is riding such a wave of popularity that it was published by the University of Chicago Press. On the other hand, "Violent Politics" has had very few reviews.I do not believe it has been reviewed by a single major newspaper.
Each of the books chapters is a worthwhile read, but perhap the most intertesting is Chapter 1 on the American Revolution. It is the best brief discussion of the American Revolution that I have ever read. The chapter on Iraq and Afganistan are very painful.
Doug Wilson
Boston
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Violent Politics, December 17, 2007
William R. Polk, a veteran foreign policy consultant and former Harvard University graduate and professor, was the founder of the University of Chicago's Center of Middle Eastern Studies. He has written a collection of books in his lifetime and wrote Violent Politics in 2007. This book takes an in-depth look at insurgencies, terrorism and guerrilla warfare, using specific historic examples of each. The opening example is the American fight for independence against the motherland of Britain; it is an insurgency that also incorporates guerrilla warfare. He explains, like in the case with Americans, why insurgency sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails like the Irish struggle for independence.
Throughout the book, Polk does a wonderful job of explaining the background of every particular historical event. This is partially because each event is given their own chapter in which he describes a brief but necessary history of events leading to the conflict, and then goes into great detail about how each conflict functioned and ultimately failed or succeeded. Even though each chapter is only about twenty pages long, you walk away from the book having a much greater understanding of not only these historical events, but also a greater understanding of the way the world of politics is shaped through aspects of both formal warfare and low-intensity conflict. Polk uses these examples to illustrate a common theme in these types of conflicts.
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