Counterinsurgency Policy Research Articles

Gender, Human Rights Networks, and the State of Emergency During the Arab Revolt (1936–1939)

Abstract Contrary to the current literature on the British state of emergency during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt, that sees women as victims of counterinsurgency policies or the differential objects within national-military cultures, this article argues that Palestinian women played an active role in fostering the rise of early human rights networks, and highlights how the politics of race and gender-based violence marked an embedded dimension of the imperial and colonial political authority and practice. By focusing on the emotional and divisive question of Palestine during the Arab Revolt, and using gender as a polyhedric tool of analysis, the article aims to show the centrality of gender and women’s activism in forging and grasping technologies of colonial emergency governance as tools of resistance to colonial violence. It enriches current histories of international law and adopts a critical feminist intersectional approach.

How Bashar al-Asad Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the “War on Terror”

Abstracts This article draws on regime newspaper archives and the Arabic-language speeches of and interviews with Syrian president Bashar al-Asad over the last two decades to track how Syrian governmental rhetoric on the question of “terrorism” has changed over time. Engaging with the literature on how ideas, technologies, and contentious repertoires diffuse and spread and how regimes learn from each other, I show how the Asad regime has moved from a discourse that saw “terrorism” as a Western and/or Israeli concept used to delegitimize primarily Palestinian and Lebanese resistance sponsored by Damascus to a discourse that embraces the rhetoric of the “war on terror” in order to legitimize the regime's counterinsurgency policies during the current conflict. I argue that this rhetorical shift is dependent on the ethno-sectarian identity of the population in question through a comparison of regime rhetoric on three separate uprisings in recent Syrian history: the current uprising (2011–present); the Kurdish uprising of 2004; and the Druze uprising in 2000. Since the current uprising is seen as a predominantly Sunni Arab affair, the Syrian regime has used “war on terror” rhetoric in ways that it did not during the Kurdish and Druze uprisings. I then situate this rhetorical move in time as a post-9/11 development by comparing current regime rhetoric with that of the Hafez al-Asad regime's rhetoric during the uprising centered in Hama in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Trade Union and Labour Situation in Guatemala

The Trade Union and Labour Situation in Guatemala Julio Coj (bio) The trade union centre UNSITRAGUA HISTORICA emerged 8 February 1985 from a historical process that was a re-articulation of the trade union movement with the “classist” trade unions that were dispersed but had survived the criminal and repressive policy launched against trade unionism in Guatemala. Business interests and governments had succeeded in destroying the important trade union organisations, such as the Central Nacional de Trabajadores (CNT), the Federación Sindical Autónoma de Guatemala (FASGUA), the Federación de Trabajadores de Guatemala (FTG), and the instrument of unified struggle the Comité Nacional de Unidad Sindical (CNUS), as well as other popular organisations that fought for life, for social justice, against militarisation and for the construction of a state with effective and participatory democracy, while under the terrible policies of the military governments-and in complicity with certain business sectors-in the context of the internal armed confrontation. In fact the actions and struggles of re-articulation of the popular movements became necessary to continue defending life and human rights, after the thousands of crimes and massacres carried out by the State “security” forces. These crimes occurred within the framework of the counterinsurgency policy that unleashed the most brutal and criminal repression against the non-combatant civilian population and those who tried to exercise full citizenship through trade union organisation, among many other popular sectors and organisations. The Revolution of 1944 It should be pointed out that the working class organised in unions, popular sectors, artisans, peasants, women, students, soldiers, and with politicians of democratic and nationalist thought, managed to triumph with their great popular and trade union struggles to achieve the Revolution of 1944. This was an authentic struggle of the people that brought great advances and benefits with this new authentic, effective, participatory democracy and social welfare, and real freedom for the majority. The first Labour Code was created in 1947, freedom of association for trade unions was allowed, and other important institutions were established: the Labour Courts, the Ministry of Labour, the right to vote for women, the Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social (IGSS, English: Guatemalan Institute of Social Security), alongside the Agrarian Reform and many important achievements in the ten years of the Spring that Guatemala lived. A criminal phase of oppression from 1954 But in 1954, with the invasion of Guatemala by the United States, which set out to destroy the revolutionary process that began in 1944, they stopped the economic, social, political and cultural development of the country, and another stage of terror was re-started. There began the murders and disappearances of the leaders that had managed to break the oppressive and enslaving system and form a government of the majority. It was a bloody and criminal phase of oppression against the population and mainly against trade union, popular, and revolutionary leaders, and those who had been in the government of Dr. Juan José Arévalo Bermejo and the soldier of the people, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. Guatemala, like the rest of the peoples of Latin America, since the invasion of the Spanish have had to live and face slavery, oppression, violent and criminal repression, the absence of a justice system, and the severe exploitation of forced labour. Without a real, effective and participatory democracy, under the boot and terror of militarism, exile, death, illiteracy, chronic childhood malnutrition, deficient and precarious public education and health systems, without the Rule of Law or an effective justice system. The Peace Agreements of 1996 and continuing impunity In Guatemala, the Peace Agreements were signed on December 29, 1996, whose content and spirit was a consensual agenda and to initiate the route to begin to combat the causes that originated the internal armed conflict. But over time there has never been a will policy of big business, the different governments, and it could be said of the government of the United States, and some other sectors of the country, for either its application or compliance. These sectors are the ones that oppose the well-being and the economic, social, political and cultural development of the majority of the people, including the working class for work and...

Banditry or business? Rebel labor markets and state economic intervention

ABSTRACT Stationary banditry is ubiquitous in civil war, with some rebel groups even investing in and profiting from primary commodities for years or decades. But for many of these groups, labor is a necessary component of resource production, such that laborers’ economic participation is vital for rebel funding and survival. States, meanwhile, are eager to prevent rebels from establishing these economic footholds. In areas where rebels can assert control of primary commodity markets, military competition between states and rebels may be supplemented by economic competition over laborers’ efforts. Under what conditions do governments wage local economic war by providing incentives to laborers to minimize the appeal of economically partnering with rebels? I argue that laborers’ economic loyalty is a central and under-considered component to resource-driven conflicts. When rebels seek to establish stationary banditry, states incentivize laborers to participate in the legal economy rather than rebel-controlled markets. Specifically, states will pursue economic counterinsurgency policies in areas where rebels are most likely to profit from labor-intensive primary commodities. I find support for this argument using municipal-level Colombian data about the FARC’s involvement in the coca trade and government provision of agricultural credits. El bandolerismo estacionario es omnipresente en la guerra civil, yalgunos grupos rebeldes incluso invierten en productos básicos yse benefician de ellos durante años odécadas. No obstante, para muchos de estos grupos, el trabajo es un componente necesario de la producción de recursos, de modo que la participación económica de los trabajadores es clave para la financiación yla supervivencia de los rebeldes. Por su parte, los Estados ansían impedir que los rebeldes establezcan este tipo de apoyo económico. En las zonas donde los rebeldes pueden imponer el control de los mercados de productos básicos, la competencia militar entre los Estados ylos rebeldes se puede complementar con la competencia económica por el esfuerzo de los trabajadores. ¿En qué condiciones los gobiernos desatan una guerra económica local al ofrecer incentivos alos trabajadores afin de minimizar el atractivo de asociarse anivel económico con los rebeldes? Sostengo que la lealtad económica de los trabajadores es un componente fundamental ypoco considerado en los conflictos relacionados con los recursos. Cuando los rebeldes pretenden imponer un bandolerismo estacionario, los Estados incentivan alos trabajadores aparticipar en la economía legal en lugar de en los mercados controlados por los rebeldes. En concreto, los Estados promulgarán políticas de contrainsurgencia económica en las zonas donde los rebeldes tienen más probabilidades de beneficiarse de los productos básicos que requieren mucha mano de obra. Respaldo este argumento mediante datos que compartió Colombia anivel municipal sobre la participación de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) en el comercio de coca yla provisión de créditos agrícolas por parte del gobierno. Le banditisme stationnaire est omniprésent dans les guerres civiles, certains groupes rebelles investissant dans et profitant même des produits primaires pendant des années ou des décennies. Mais pour nombre de ces groupes, la main-d’œuvre est une composante nécessaire à la production de ressources, et la participation économique des travailleurs est donc essentielle au financement et à la survie de ces rebelles. Dans le même temps, les États souhaitent ardemment empêcher les rebelles d’établir ces points d’ancrage économiques. Dans les zones où les rebelles peuvent affirmer leur contrôle sur les marchés des produits primaires, la concurrence militaire entre les États et les rebelles peut être complétée par une concurrence économique sur les efforts des travailleurs. Dans quelles conditions les gouvernements mènent-ils une guerre économique locale en offrant des incitations aux travailleurs pour minimizer l’attrait d’un partenariat économique avec les rebelles ? Je soutiens que la loyauté économique des travailleurs est une composante centrale et insuffisamment prise en considération dans les conflits reposant sur des ressources. Lorsque les rebelles cherchent à établir un banditisme stationnaire, les États incitent les travailleurs à participer à l’économie légale plutôt qu’aux marchés contrôlés par les rebelles. Plus précisément, les États mèneront des politiques économiques de contre-insurrection dans les zones où les rebelles sont les plus susceptibles de tirer profit des produits primaires exigeant beaucoup de main-d’œuvre. J’ai trouvé du soutien à cet argument en m’appuyant sur des données colombiennes au niveau municipal concernant l’implication des FARC dans le commerce de la coca et l’octroi de crédits agricoles par le gouvernement.

Counterinsurgency as an institution: Evidence from Turkey

ABSTRACT Are emergency zones effective counterinsurgency measures? In response to Kurdish rebellion, the Turkish state put 13 provinces under emergency rule (1987–2002). In this paper, we investigate the link between emergency rule and electoral support for a pro-insurgent party. First, using the first-differencing method, we show that the tenure of provinces under emergency rule contributes to the vote share of the pro-insurgent party. Second, we investigate which counterinsurgency policies worked as a mechanism to connect emergency rule to pro-insurgent vote. We find that detentions targeting activists shifted electoral preferences toward the pro-insurgent party, whereas population displacement and party identifications with emergency rule led to an opposite outcome. These results show that (1) the legal-institutional framework of counterinsurgency affects civilians’ political perceptions in fundamental ways, and (2) it can lead to failure when its repressive arm target activism. Overall, the paper presents an institutionalist account of civilian perceptions during wartime.

‘Uncircumcised boys’ and ‘girl Spartans’: Youth, Gender and Generation in Colonial Insurgencies and Counterinsurgency, c. 1954–59

AbstractBoth male and female youth were significant actors in anti‐colonial insurgencies, but their involvement has been neglected in existing historiographies due to the marginalisation of youth voices in colonial archives. This article analyses the causes of youth insurgency and colonial counterinsurgency responses in two British colonies, Kenya and Cyprus, in 1954‐59, providing a gendered and relational study of youth as cohort, as liberation generation, as life stage and as kinship position. It argues that a ‘gen[d]erational’ lens is necessary to properly understand how age and gender intersected to shape boys' and girls’ experiences of youth insurgency, and how colonial states punished and tried to ‘rehabilitate’ such rebellious youths. This article argues that colonial responses to youth in insurgency were implicitly shaped by colonial understandings of gender and generation as well as by race and ethnicity, but that counterinsurgency policies failed to effectively integrate gendered and generational perspectives sufficiently into either their security, peno‐legal or welfare and developmental responses. The only successful ‘rehabilitation’ programmes focused on male youth, and combined colonial and local understandings of age and gender to provided pathways towards the forms of adulthood desired by youth, rather than just treating them as unthinking, impressionable or irrecoverable children.

Multinational Joint Task Force’s Fight against Insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin Region

Describing north east Nigeria without making mention of insurgency would be incomplete, as the resurgence of insurgent groups particularly Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād commonly refered to as Boko Haram have wreaked havoc in the region for close to 12 years. In response to the activities of insurgent groups, the African Union Peace and Security Council and the authority of the Lake Chad Basin Commission moved to expand the mandate of the MNJJT to include counter insurgency. The task force is made up of orcesrom Cameroon, Chad,Niger Nigeria and Benin republic. The task force have been able to make considerable gains against insurgency, however, insurgency still remains a major challenge in the region, which makes necessary an appraisal of the task force in justifying the purpose of its creation. The study reveals major challenges like inadequate technical knowhow, inadequate funding amongst others threatens the operations of the MNJTF. The paper recommends that military response is solely incapable of addressing insurgency, member States need to re-examine counter insurgency policies to be multidimensional.

From Counterinsurgency to the Peace Agreement in Colombia: A Bayesian Approximation of Human Security

ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to carry out a comparative security analysis of a city traditionally affected by armed conflict in Colombia, during two periods of time when two opposing strategies were employed to overcome armed conflicts: a counterinsurgency policy and the peace agreement, using the Human Security (HS) restricted approach. This is one of the first studies to establish specific Bayesian analyzes using primary data obtained directly from communities. The results show that the peace dialogs are more effective in addressing the actions that threaten a population’s human security, especially those that come from the insurgent groups (i.e., FARC). However, in a scenario of multiple armed actors and criminal activities, a strategy focused solely on one of them is not enough to guarantee optimal conditions for human security.

An epidemiological approach to insurgent population modeling with the Atangana–Baleanu fractional derivative

Abstract Insurgency is a large loophole to any nation’s finances because of the monumental costs associated with fighting it. In this study, an epidemiological approach to modeling the dynamics of the spread of insurgents is introduced. Stability analysis of the steady states of the system were performed and the insurgency prevalence number R 0 , which is analogous to the reproduction number in epidemiological studies was obtained using the next generation matrix method. A fractional version of the model was introduced using the Atangana–Baleanu derivative and numerical simulations were performed for better understanding of the dynamics of the system. For effective counter-insurgency measures, the local and global sensitivity analysis of the insurgency prevalence number R 0 and the endemic states with respect to the parameters that define them were performed. Sensitivity analysis shows that counter-insurgency efforts must focus on increasing the recovery rate of insurgents and reducing the rate of radicalization of civilians. The developed model is a suitable tool with great potential for drawing inference in driving counter-insurgency policy making processes.

The Reach of Radio: Ending Civil Conflict through Rebel Demobilization

We examine the role of FM radio in mitigating violent conflict. We collect original data on radio broadcasts encouraging defections during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency. This constitutes the first quantitative evaluation of an active counterinsurgency policy that encourages defections through radio messages. Exploiting random topography-driven variation in radio coverage along with panel variation at the grid-cell level, we identify the causal effect of messaging on violence. Broadcasting defection messages increases defections and reduces fatalities, violence against civilians, and clashes with security forces. Income shocks have opposing effects on both the conflict and the effectiveness of messaging. (JEL D74, L82, O17)

Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram: Recruitment Strategies

This paper is an examination of the membership recruitment strategies of two violent extremist organizations (VEOs), namely al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. The majority of the literature on VEOs concentrates on the conceptualization of terrorism, motivations for terrorism and counter-terrorism strategies, as well as a focus on the frequency of VEO attacks, number of fatalities and funding sources. The literature tends to portray poverty as the main driver of recruitment. The focus on recruitment strategies has been relatively recent. There is therefore still a lack of in-depth analyses on the processes of recruitment of specific extremist groups, and this impacts on the development of effective counter-insurgency policies and practices. We conclude that there is a need for more nuanced studies of recruitment practices, including radicalization strategies, of specific VEOs in Africa. This understanding of recruitment practices, particularly by VEOs such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab, will enable more context specific counter-insurgency programmes that target the ability of these organizations to recruit and expand. There can be no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with the challenge of violent extremism in Africa.

Política de contrainsurgencia y desaparición forzada en México en la década de 1970

This article analyzes the counterinsurgency policy and the practice of enforced disappearance deployed by the Mexican State against dissident organizations, particularly guerrilla groups, during the seventies. Based on the analysis of national security documents and case studies, the article proposes a framework that is both explanatory and interpretative, characterizing the logic of counterinsurgency violence in a broadly way. Additionally, it highlights the shifts in the implementation of that violence. This study identifies the particularities of the politics of counterinsurgency in Mexico within the Latin America Cold War process, so that it can cease to be seen as an exceptional case.Keywords: Counterinsurgency; Enforced Disappearance; Mexico; State

Counterinsurgency and Human Security

In this article I take up the counterinsurgency policy and practice of the US armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. By focusing on the Counterinsurgency Manual 2006, I highlight how the US counterinsurgency policy did not fully incorporate the concept of human security. Accordingly, the counterinsurgency operations that were carried out in the wake of the War on Terrorism failed to ensure human security to the vulnerable segments of the populations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Introduction Vol 4 Issue 1

In this issue we have a set of diverse articles. They are diverse in their academic fields, research methods, and geographic areas. There is one article that comes from critical cultural studies and discusses the relationship between human rights and Asian cultural values in the Far East countries. Another is based in critical legal studies and focuses on procedural rights of the accused in criminal justice system of Pakistan. Yet another is based in international law and discusses how international human rights law has yielded grounds to the principle of diplomatic immunity in the case of Jamal Khashoggi. There is also an article from humanities field that throws light on human rights violations in Kashmir at the hands of Indian law enforcement agencies. Finally, we have one article that comes from peace and conflict studies, and it discusses the aspect of human security in modern counter-insurgency policy and practice.

Custodial Violence in Kashmir by the Indian Security Forces: A Spontaneous Consequence or a Deliberate Counter-Insurgency Policy?

Custodial Violence in Kashmir by the Indian Security Forces: A Spontaneous Consequence or a Deliberate Counter-Insurgency Policy?

The Disappearance of the “Model Muslim Minority” in Xi Jinping’s China: Intended Policy or Side Effect?

This article critically examines how securitization campaigns by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) turn the country’s Muslim minorities into potential threats, while simultaneously seeking to legitimize the CCP’s repressive security practices. Applying securitization theory, the article examines whether there are ethnicity-based differences in the securitization process, particularly between the Hui and Uyghur Muslim minority groups and why such differences exist. In doing so, the article briefly introduces the different Muslim communities within China, as well as the impact of the Chinese government’s Open Door Policy on Chinese Muslim minorities. The existential security threat perceived and subsequently leveraged by China originates in demands for increased autonomy, more cultural and religious rights, and, in some cases, formal independence from China by its Uyghur population. Sociopolitical unrest in Xinjiang heightens Chinese insecurities and hardens the CCP’s policies toward the Uyghur minority group inside Xinjiang, as well as other Chinese Muslim minorities, specifically the Hui minority predominantly located in Ningxia. There are significant differences in how the state securitizes these two Muslim minority groups, which can be explained with the use of model minorities. In framing its own Muslim minority groups as a security issue, China employs the post-9/11 Global “War on Terror” to transform ethnic unrest into a terrorismbased challenge to the Chinese state. As such, the focus of securitization shifted from ethnic identity to religious practice. This conceptual shift underlies state attempts to legitimize its counterinsurgency policies under the principle of combating the “Three Evils” of separatism, terrorism, and religious extremism, which are aimed specifically at religious minorities.

Sectarianism in Iraq: the role of the coalition provisional authority

ABSTRACTThis article challenges recent analyses on sectarianism and Sunni-Shi’a conflict in Iraq by examining the political and economic factors that have underpinned the rising levels of internecine violence that have become apparent since 2003. Rather than rooted in “ancient hatreds”, these dynamics are, we argue, the outcome of a series of decisions and social transformations imposed on the Iraqi state in the immediate aftermath of the invasion – namely the format of the constitution, counter-insurgency policy, the establishment of a new media sector and the social effects of the Coalition’s economic reorganisation.

What have we learned? Assessing the effectiveness of counterterrorism strategies in Pakistan

This paper empirically examines the effectiveness of various counterinsurgency policies employed in Pakistan. The literature suggests that any counterinsurgency strategy can have three effects: deterrence, incapacitation, and vengeance. Violence will increase if the vengeance effect outweighs the deterrence and incapacitation effects; if the deterrence and incapacitation effects are dominant, the reverse is true. Pakistan has used three types of counterinsurgency measures to curb violence: peace accords, military operations, and a combination of military assaults (operation Zarb-e-Azb) and the National Action Plan (NAP). Using data for the period 1974m1-2015m12, the results from Negative Binomial Regression models suggest that peace accords have no significant effect on violence, whereas military operations increase violence, suggesting the dominance of the vengeance effect. On the other hand, operation Zarb-e-Azb, complemented by the National Action Plan, generated a strong incapacitation effect, leading to a significant reduction in violence. The results are robust, and even stronger, for a subsample of the post-9/11 period. These findings support the notion that an effective counterterrorism strategy requires a well-executed military operation backed by strong political support.

The economic effects of a counterinsurgency policy in India: A synthetic control analysis

Using the synthetic control method, we analyze the economic effects of a unique counterinsurgency response to the Naxalite insurgency in India. Of all the states affected by Naxalite violence, only one state, Andhra Pradesh, raised a specially trained and equipped police force in 1989 known as the Greyhounds, dedicated to combating the Naxalite insurgency. Compared to a synthetic control region constructed from states affected by Naxalite violence that did not raise a similar police force, we find that the per capita NSDP of Andhra Pradesh increased significantly over the period 1989–2000. Further, we find that the effects on the manufacturing sector are particularly strong. Placebo tests indicate that these results are credible and various difference-in-difference specifications using state and industry level panel data further corroborate these findings.

La violencia sexual como genocidio Memoria de las mujeres mayas sobrevivientes de violación sexual durante el conflicto armado en Guatemala

This paper is the outcome of a research/participatory action carried out from 2005 to 2009 in the context of the political and social process driven by “Women Agents of Change”, along with 54 Mayan women from four different ethnic groups –Q’eqchi’, Mam, Chuj, and Kaqchikel–, who survived sexual violation during the internal armed conflict in Guatemala (1960-1996). We survey the systematic and widespread use of rape against Mayan women within the framework of the Guatemalan counterinsurgency policy, labeling and denouncing it as feminicide and genocide. We demonstrate how rape was used by the State to annihilate the biological, social and cultural continuity of the Mayan people by way of the female body. In addition, we establish the political intention of using sexual violation to subdue and massacring women. The work was structured according to a feminist epistemology articulated with that of the Mayan worldview. Thus, the voices and experiences that had been silenced by an androcentric and racist stance were placed here as the focal point of the research. In addition, it required a collective will to expose how the different systems of oppression are interweaved and synthesized in the body of racialized women. This research accounts for a concrete and collective experience of memory and healing among Mayan, Mestizo and European women, which has made possible to inhabit again the body, the life, and the community after the genocidal sexual violation from a new dignified, just and free stance.