List Price: $34.99
Save: $8.54 (24%)

+ $7.98 shipping

Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

This item ships to Finland. Want it Wednesday, Feb. 19? Order within and choose AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping at checkout. Learn more

Deliver to Finland

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Walter C. Ladwig III

The Forgotten Front: Patron-Client Relationships in Counterinsurgency Paperback – June 9, 2017

by Walter C. Ladwig III (Author)

6 ratings

See all 3 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$18.92

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$71.59

$60.87

Paperback

"Please retry"

$26.45

$22.44

$26.42

After a decade and a half of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, US policymakers are seeking to provide aid and advice to local governments' counterinsurgency campaigns rather than directly intervening with US forces. This strategy, and US counterinsurgency doctrine in general, fail to recognize that despite a shared aim of defeating an insurgency, the US and its local partner frequently have differing priorities with respect to the conduct of counterinsurgency operations. Without some degree of reform or policy change on the part of the insurgency-plagued government, American support will have a limited impact. Using three detailed case studies - the Hukbalahap Rebellion in the Philippines, Vietnam during the rule of Ngo Dinh Diem, and the Salvadorian Civil War - Ladwig demonstrates that providing significant amounts of aid will not generate sufficient leverage to affect a client's behaviour and policies. Instead, he argues that influence flows from pressure and tight conditions on aid rather than from boundless generosity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"this book is essential reading for specialists of International Relations and of strategy, as it critically examines the patron-client relationship in the context of counterinsurgency and contributes immensely to the scholarship on irregular warfare..." -International Affairs

"Ladwig's important book ... shines a bright light on some of the deficiencies in counterinsurgency literature and the United States' naiveté about its relationship with its clients." - War on the Rocks

"This clearly written, well-researched study brings welcome attention to the counterinsurgent government's interests and the client government's ability to resist patron pressure. Ladwig's book fits well into mainstream counterinsurgency studies...but is more rigorous in its theoretical and empirical analysis than much other work in this area." - Parameters

"...one of the most significant recent books on counterinsurgency." - Joint Force Quarterly

"The Forgotten Front marks a valuable contribution to the rapidly growing literature on the causes and consequences of security assistance between states." - Political Science Quarterly

"Walter C. Ladwig III has identified one of the most vexing problems outside powers face in a counterinsurgency campaign: prodding the government afflicted by the insurgency to reform. More importantly, through the effective use of history, he has derived a way to increase the effectiveness of American assistance in counterinsurgency campaigns, with immediate implications for the ongoing campaign in Afghanistan. This work is in the best tradition of applying social science to solve real world problems." - John Nagl - lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army (retired) and author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam

"Clausewitz was right that war is an extension of politics, by other means. Ladwig is right that counterinsurgency support for other nations is also an extension of politics. It is not, and cannot be, a purely or even a primarily technical enterprise." - Michael O'Hanlon - Brookings Institution

Book Description

Despite supporting counterinsurgency campaigns of allied governments, the US has repeatedly struggled to convince them to follow their advice. Drawing on a rich range of archival sources, this book argues that the best way to assist a local government is often to withhold aid rather than support them unconditionally.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 9, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1316621804
ISBN-13: 978-1316621806
Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 6 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,888,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1899 in Iraq War History (Books)
- #460 in Military Policy (Books)
- #880 in Afghan War Military History

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Be the first video

Your name here

Customer reviews

5 star		100%
4 star 0% (0%)		0%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

6 customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

John

A very important book for anyone who takes insurgencies seriously

August 8, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Fighting an insurgency is not the same as helping someone else fight an insurgency. This self-evident fact seems to be left out of the current counter-insurgency debates. The title refers to the power struggle between the donor nation and the recipient of aid. It is written with crisp clear thought and raises disturbing questions about the effectiveness of US military and economic aid as it is currently practiced. Is current aid policy, helping, hurting or having no effect? Does the US trap itself with counter-insurgency commitments?

This book also takes the conversation in other directions as well. We find ourselves in perennial postmortem over military quagmires, but rarely spend as much time picking over the political and diplomatic failures that preceded them. Furthermore, while the story of Vietnam is well known (at least after full fledged military involvement began) the book also covers campaigns in El Salvador and the Philippines as well, both of which have fallen far out of public awareness.

We are awash with violent, revolutionary-style conflicts. These insurgencies likely hold greater public mind share now than they have in most readers' living memories, yet it feels like the conversations we are having haven't evolved since the early days of the "hearts and minds" campaigns. This book brings one (of what may be several) important but missing dimensions of counter-insurgency into the debate. It is of very particular interest to a country like the United States which has no insurgency of its own but finds itself involved in numerous conflicts globally.

The book is clearly written for a more academic audience and I would have like to see more of the concepts applied to current conflicts, but the subject matter makes it keenly relevant in the current geo-political context.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

T. Matsuda

A Book with Abundant and Broad Implications for Future Academic Research and Policy Discussions

September 9, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book pursues and answers questions that have not attracted sufficient attention in existing literature or in policy discussions over the conduct of counterinsurgency. Through three intriguing case studies supported by exhaustive historical analysis, the author offers a clear and convincing answer to that crucial question. Moreover, these findings in this book contain broader scholarly implications for general theories in international relations going beyond the topic of counterinsurgency.

Counterinsurgency (COIN) has gained a certain degree of interest after the American experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. As many observers point out, the success of the revival of the COIN doctrine in the 2000s such as the Surge in Iraq is still debatable. As Washington still struggles to fight insurgents, particularly in the broader Middle East, existing academic and policy debates have been based on a set of assumptions. Chief among them, as the author reexamines in the book, is that priorities and interests between the United States and the client state generally do not align. The U.S. aversion to put boots on the ground have resulted in increased assistance to local client governments so that they could conduct COIN operations on their own. However, surprisingly, the assumption that this policy rests upon has rarely been discussed. The findings in this book, drawling lessons from past U.S. experiences in COIN assistance has rich policy implications, which will certainly benefit practitioners and academics, who deal with security challenges in the broader Middle East.

The importance of this book, however, goes beyond simply shedding light on a perspective in COIN that deserved more attention. The findings in the book open up numerous intriguing and important academic questions more broadly in the study of international relations. Firstly, the book’s exploration of Patron-Client relations illuminates implications on the theory of alliance politics, which have generally developed around interstate relations. Alliance politics is a topic that is frequently touched upon both in scholarly and policy discussions but have often been treated monolithically despite the variety in circumstances and conditions. In other words, the book touches upon alliance relations that involves internal security threats, which is an aspect that has not been fully examined in general theories on alliances.

Moreover, the examination of how patron states, namely the United States, could influence the client state through inducement and conditionality offers implications for studies on democracy promotion and military aid. Since the Cold War, these topics have been crucial yet controversial in American foreign policy as well as in studies of comparative politics. Regime types and dynamics in internal politics, which are seemingly themes studied in comparative politics, were not free from the influence of the international system and the patron state, which is namely the superpower. This book offers a bridge between the study of international relations and comparative politics when looking at internal security threats.

In overall, the book contains abundant food for thoughts not only for academics and practitioners involved in counterinsurgency but also for a broader audience of scholars and policy-makers on alliance politics, international relations and even comparative politics.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Richard W. Porter

Managing Insurrections, Insights for the USA

August 5, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This great book focuses on the Philippine, Vietnam, and El Salvador uprisings for background. Explaining how the US could have worked more effectively with the local governments and people. This is the "Forgotten Front", from which the book gets its title.
This book is very timely regarding the US involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, & Syria. I hope leadership in WDC reads Ladwig’s meticulously researched book. Then the US would interact more productively with the local governments and people, which would give better results for everyone.
I suggest that the casual reader start reading at p. 87, about the Philippine uprising following WW2.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

NAME_NOT_RETURNED

Very readable account

May 6, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is an excellent book which provides an interesting and novel interpretation about the US involvement in El Salvador, Vietnam and Philippines. The author uses archival material deftly to examine a single big question- how should great powers, like the United States, support other countries in their counterinsurgency efforts? Short answer- it is very difficult but, under the right conditions, can be do-able. I would recommend this book not only to American policy-makers but also to officers in the military and those interested in foreign policy. It is easy to read and is absent typical academic jargon. In short, a very good read.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

biker009

Impressive depth of historical research

August 24, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Impressive depth of historical research. Outstanding analysis of an important foreign-policy challenge. Very readable.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy

Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account	Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Handpicked Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources

Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services	Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics

CreateSpace Indie Print Publishing Made Easy	DPReview Digital Photography	East Dane Designer Men's Fashion	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities

IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital Publishing Made Easy	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing

Ring Smart Home Security Systems	eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Subscribe with Amazon Discover & try subscription services	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Second Chance Pass it on, trade it in, give it a second life

Buy New

$26.45

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

The Forgotten Front: Patron-Client Relationships in Counterinsurgency Paperback – June 9, 2017