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Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Guerrilla War, from the American Revolution to Iraq

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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. . . .

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

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.

This book offers further proof that those who don't understand history are destined to repeat it It is a comprehensive and clear discussion of the history of insurgency from the American Revoloution through the current mess in Iraq. I think of it as an education in one book. I found the history of the troubles in Ireland especially enlightening. Anyone who can continue to defend our incursions into Vietnam and Iraq after reading this book is delusional.

Foreign Service and State Department people are immensely knowledegable about their areas. It means learning an odd language or two, absorbing many volumes of history and past international relations, becoming respectful of myriad social customs and religious practices and consequently forming a political astuteness that will be useful to the boss in Washington. Of course, when the boss communes with God and gets direction from a higher authority, all this can be ignored. Just bring'em on.

William Polk examines eleven insurgencies from 1776 to the present. This is a short book. The author has distilled hundreds of books and many years of service into 223 refined pages of text. The simple message is that occupiers are always unwelcome. Supression may succeed temporarily, but the day of reckoning eventually arrives. This book is filled with important history lessons that our leaders have ignored.

Violent Politics takes a depressing but realistic view that "hearts and minds" are the most important aspect of winning against an insurgency. Military efforts are usually too little (or too much) and too late, merely further alienating a population already traumatized by internal problems and insurgency. Such an analysis, if correct, does not bode well for US and Allied efforts in Afghanistan.

Violent Politics is a survey of guerrilla wars or insurgent wars from the American revolution to Afghanistan. The author is a history professor and former State Department policy analyst. The book is clearly written from that point of view. A soldier would have written a different history of guerrilla wars. The book is well written; it reads like a book that had good editing and proof reading.

The thesis of Violent Politics is that the outcome of insurgent conflicts are mostly political with only a small military component. Polk references numbers: 80% political, 15% administrative and 5% military. This is supported by each of his examples. In fact he barely references the military aspects of these conflicts.

Violent Politics is laid out in eleven chapters each covering a specific conflict. Each chapter provides a brief survey of the history, politics and the progression of the guerilla war it covers. This also includes the ethnic and religious context in each case. Another interesting aspect is the outside assistance that the various insurgencies received. There is some discussion of the size of forces involved and of the weapons they had. That is usually the extent of the military information.

The authoritative factual tone of the first eleven chapters is abandoned in the Conclusion where the author discusses Americas current engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here the author sounds like any other left wing pundit. While I generally agree with the sentiment, it was not in line with the rest of the book.

I found the author persuasive that politics is the most important aspect in an insurgency. Unfortunately that leaves the occupier or outside force with very little chance of success. The author provides no advice on how to conduct such a war. Clearly the author thinks we should just not get involved in them; I don't think that is realistic. In particular the author seems to think America has no chance in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

This well written book is informative and provides much new information and perspective on an important topic.

The historical chapters are decent. Nothing really new, but readable summaries. The conclusion--in which the author discusses current conflicts--is, and I can't think of a nicer word, utter nonsense. It is filled with factual errors and unfounded assertions. About half way through the conclusion (at the point the author asserted that the Bush administration has created 737 new military bases) I put it down and couldn't bring myself to finish. It was a shame to end a decent history with propaganda instead of serious analysis.

Chuck Spinney, along with Pierre Sprey and Winslow Wheeler and a few others, one of the top twelve brains with integrity on US defense fraud, waste, and abuse, raves about this book, calling it "one of the very best books of the subject of guerrilla warfare and insurrection that I have ever read." For myself, this would normally be a four, but since Chuck is one of my intellectual way points, I won't argue and go with five. I can see what Chuck likes so much about the conclusion--it is a summary of the "true cost" of a government that lacks both intelligence and integrity, and strives to perpetuate global war as a matter of momentum. The author does an excellent job of including in the "total cost" the mental and physical disability toll, the social toll, the foreign "collateral damage" toll, and of course the financial toll including all the borrowing that has been done "in our name" but not in our interest.

This could be "the one book to read" if you don't have time to delve deeply, as I and others have, into rebellion and insurgency. It is not, however, the be all and end all, more like a Cliff's Notes. I agree with the author, self-determination and morality at home generally trump invasion, occupation, and repression, but I have to say, not always--witness the Native Americans genocides by the Europeans, the Palestinians displaced from their own homeland, and a few others.

Certainly I share the author's slamming of the so-called "new" counterinsurgency doctrine that propelled General Petraues to new heights of personal incompetence. The US lacks the cultural intelligence about the rest of the world, and the integrity within itself, to actually be a force for good.

Here are ten other books that both support the author's basic thesis (first five) and that add deeply to our understanding of why the US Government is so terribly inept at dealing with reality.

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
The Power of the Powerless (Routledge Revivals): Citizens Against the State in Central-eastern Europe
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
Gangs, Pseudo-Militaries, and Other Modern Mercenaries: New Dynamics in Uncomfortable Wars (International and Security Affairs Series, Vol. 6)
Uncomfortable Wars Revisited (International and Security Affairs)
The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

One last comment: a major insurgency is brewing in the United States of America. The day may yet come when it breaks up into "Nine Nations" or multiple states secede, as Vermont, New Hampshire, Texas, Alaska, and perhaps Oregon and Washington are seriously considering. The Constitution has been trashed since 2000, and both parties are responsible, having sold their souls to Wall Street. At Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog I have a Graphic on preconditions of revolution (my first graduate thesis) that exist today in the USA--this book is relevant to understanding all countries, including the USA. Washington is NOT in friendly hands, and the rest of the country is starting to figure that out. There is a "Harvest of Rage" brewing west and south of the Mason-Dixon line, and while I totally believe in non-violence, I believe we will see more "Tyrannicide" in the near and mid-terms.

An extraordinary review of the political history of terrorism from a master of the history and culture of the middle east.