Infiltrative Insurgency the Trojan Horse

Abstract

AbstractFacing declining fortunes via military contestation, some insurgents are moving toward co-opting the state instead, using seemingly legal mechanisms yet also covert violence to clear the path. Termed infiltrative insurgency, this approach exploits the openness of party politics. Compared with traditional insurgency, it is a subtler method of seizing power--one that minimizes international censure and shields against armed repression. What distinguishes this approach from standard party politics and social movement mobilization is the continued use of violence, which is disguised, unattributed and therefore capable of achieving results without significant political costs. This chapter sets out the nature and functioning of infiltrative insurgency, blending its theory with case studies. Insight is drawn from historical precedents, including the Russian Revolution, the Nazi Party's overthrow of the Weimar Republic, and the blending of violence and party politics by the IRA, FARC and Golden Dawn in Greece. This approach is particularly responsive to today's strategic conditions, in which stark exercises in power work less well and less often. Given this context, the chapter discusses the dangers of infiltrative insurgency to political openness and state legitimacy--and therefore to democratic societies most of all.