For the Half-Life 2 mod, see Insurgency (mod)

The US government and media was using the term "insurgent" as early as 1899 to describe Filipino forces during the Philippine-American War; here Filipino soldiers lie in a trench after being killed by US forces.

An insurgency, or insurrection, is an armed uprising, or revolt against an established civil or political authority. Persons engaging in insurgency are called insurgents, and typically engage in regular or guerrilla combat against the armed forces of the established regime, or conduct sabotage and harassment in the land in order to undermine the government's position as leader. Insurrection could refer to: Insurgency, an armed uprising Insurrectionary anarchism, a political derivative of anarchism Star Trek: Insurrection, a Star Trek film StarCraft: Insurrection, an expansion for the Blizzard game StarCraft. ... Half-Life 2 (HL2) is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game that is the sequel to Half-Life. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat, or INS for short, is a tactical realism-based Half-Life 2 modification, powered by the Source Engine. ... Image File history File links Filipino_casualties_on_the_first_day_of_war. ... Image File history File links Filipino_casualties_on_the_first_day_of_war. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Combatants United States Philippines several groups post-1902 Commanders William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt Wesley Merritt Elwell Stephen Otis J. Franklin Bell Henry Ware Lawton† John J. Pershing Joseph Wheeler Emilio Aguinaldo Miguel Malvar Pio del Pilar Manuel Tinio Gregorio del Pilar† Licerio Geronimo Vicente Lukban Juan Cailles Maximino Hizon Antonio... This article is about authority as a concept. ... “Guerrilla” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Sabotage (disambiguation). ...

Military Definition

According to United States Department of Defense Joint Publication (JP) 1-02, Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, an insurgency is defined as an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through use of subversion and armed conflict.

An insurgency differs from a resistance both in its political overtones and in the nature of the conflict: an insurgency connotes an internal struggle against a standing, established government, whereas a resistance connotates a struggle against invading or occupying foreign forces and their collaborators. Under this definition, the uprisings against the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein would be considered an insurgency. Attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces in present day Iraq are considered insurgency, because Iraqi and Coalition forces act to protect the Iraqi elected government. A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence. ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ...

Tactics and strategies

Polish insurgent at a Warsaw Uprising barricade.

Insurgent tactics and strategies vary widely, as well as the type of targets insurgents attack. Raids are amongst the most common actions taken by insurgents in a dominated state or province. In addition, insurgents establish ties with other outlaws and double agents to further their goals. Some militants can also be sponsored by competing or enemy state governments. Some elements of an insurgency may use bombs, kidnappings, hostage-taking, hijackings, shootings and other terrorist techniques to target the establishment's power structure and other facilities, oftentimes with little regard for civilian casualties or collateral damage. Other elements may restrict their attacks to military objectives and avoid the targeting of civilians. Many times, insurgent groups conduct violent attacks but do not reveal the group's identity or leader. Usually, an individual with iconic and symbolic status throughout the movement becomes its principal leader against the governmental authority. Leaders of differing background from the insurgency movement itself may, at times, take over an insurgency. One of the Armia Krajowa soldiers defending a barricade during the Warsaw Uprising. ... One of the Armia Krajowa soldiers defending a barricade during the Warsaw Uprising. ... For other uses, see Warsaw Uprising (disambiguation). ... Military tactics (Greek: Taktikē, the art of organizing an army) are the collective name for methods for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often winning. Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed. ... “Guerrilla” redirects here. ... For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... A double agent pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. ... For other uses, see Bomb (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hostage (disambiguation). ... Gun fighting is the act of winning or losing fights with a gun. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Civilian casualties is a military term describing civilian, non-combatant persons killed or injured by direct military action. ... Collateral damage is a U.S. Military term for unintended or incidental damage during a military operation. ...

Insurgents use a variety of asymmetrical warfare tactics, usually because of the insurgents force's capabilities are unequal to the authority's capabilities. Insurgents' attacks against the authority may take the form of attacks on supply trains and security forces using hidden explosives. These explosive devices, at times made from military-grade materials, are concealed or camouflaged along transport routes and detonated when supply transports or security forces come within distance. Insurgents frequently launch ambushes on military targets, with automatic and antitank weapons. Unarmored targets are commonly targeted. The congested and constricted terrain of the urban areas, and in the rural areas, offer cover and concealment for insurgents launching ambushes for a force multiplier by the insurgent force and as a force inhibitor against the targeted force. Such attacks are usually broken off before support or reinforcements can be called in. Asymmetric warfare is a military term to describe warfare in which the two belligerents are mismatched in their military capabilities or accustomed methods of engagement such that the militarily diasadvantaged power must press its special advantages or effectively exploit its enemys particular weaknesses if they are to have any... M2 machine gun An automatic firearm is a firearm that will continue to load and fire rounds of ammunition as long as the trigger (or equivalent) is activated or until it runs out of ammunition. ... Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ...

Contemporary political discourse

Insurgency is most commonly used to describe a movement's unlawfulness by virtue of not being authorized by or in accordance with the law of the land. When used by a state or an authority under threat, "insurgency" implies an illegitimacy of cause upon those rising up, whereas those rising up will see the authority itself as being illegitimate. In cases of rebellions, the term insurgents refers to those who are not part of the decision-making entity that has the ability to make laws. For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... Look up rebellion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The term "Iraqi insurgency", has been used by US military spokespersons and embraced by various politicians and the media in the Western world to describe the guerilla resistance (restorationists insurgency^[1]) to the occupying US-led coalition forces and the new Iraqi Government in post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2007. Following adoption in that context, the word "insurgency" has subsequently gained widespread use by Western media in coverage of other asymmetrical conflicts, e.g. "the Maoist insurgency in Nepal". This sudden popularization of the term makes it difficult to distinguish historically accepted uses of the term from those that have been influenced by its specific application to post-invasion Iraq. The Iraqi insurgency comprises diverse groups of armed resistance to the US occupation of Iraq. ... The term Western world, the West or the Occident (Latin occidens -sunset, -west, as distinct from the Orient) [1] can have multiple meanings dependent on its context (e. ... Guerrilla (also called a partisan) is a term borrowed from Spanish (from guerra meaning war) used to describe small combat groups. ... A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Multinational Force Iraq. ... Iraqi sovereignty was interrupted by the multinational forces which overthrew Saddam Hussein in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ... Occupation zones in Iraq as of September 2003 The post-invasion period in Iraq followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States, which overthrew the Baath Party government of Saddam Hussein. ... Occupation zones in Iraq as of September 2003 The post-invasion period in Iraq followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States, which overthrew the Baath Party government of Saddam Hussein. ...

For example, Tomes,^[2] in a 2004 article, identifies four elements that "typically encompass an insurgency"[8]:

1. cell-networks that maintain secrecy
2. terror used to foster insecurity among the population and drive them to the movement for protection
3. multifaceted attempts to cultivate support in the general population, often by undermining the new regime
4. attacks against the government [9]

This characterization of 'insurgency" contrasts markedly with historically accepted definitions of the term.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Terrorist redirects here. ...

Changing nature of insurgency

One of the key debates among militaries, government officials, national security experts and scholars concerns changes underway in the nature of insurgency. "Classic" Cold War insurgencies sought to seize state power and form a national government by evolving from underground and guerrilla forces into state-like ones. Contemporary insurgencies are characterized by linkage to broader systemic conflicts or failures normally involving criminal networks and militias as well as insurgents; by their use of the Internet and other forms of information technology; by reliance on terrorism rather than large unit military actions; by the need to generate their own financial resources rather than relying on external sponsors; and by the desire to create political "space" in which to operate rather than the seizure of state power.

Government security forces are still struggling to understand contemporary insurgencies and find ways to counter them. This is a common pattern since insurgencies often take the form of "learning contests" between insurgents and counterinsurgents.

References

1. ^ defined in the Iraqi Insurgency Movement [1]"The Iraqi Insurgent Movement" Christopher Alexander, Charles Kyle and William McCallister, Nov. 14, 2003
2. ^ Robert Tomes is Senior Advisor to the NGA Technical Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, and a member of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs. His work has appeared in Policy Review, National Security Studies Quarterly, and the Naval War College Review, and is forthcoming in Joint Force Quarterly, Armed Forces and Society, and Defence Studies. [2]
3. ^ Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary [3]
4. ^ Ask Oxford [4]
5. ^ Dictionary.com [5]
6. ^ Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary [6]
7. ^ One Look Dictionary Search [7]

See also

• Counter-insurgency
• Global Islamic Insurgency
• Insurrectionary anarchism
• List of revolutions and rebellions

Counter-insurgency is the combating of insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. ... Global Islamic Insurgency is a hypothesis contending that various non-state Islamist groups are dedicated to political outcomes by way of terrorism and information operations, networked through informal social bonds with access to modern communication technologies and with the backing of certain states, certain Islamic charitable organizations and/or wealthy... Insurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory, practice and tendency within the anarchist movement which opposes formal anarchist organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based on a political programme and periodic congresses. ... Scene from the failed Québecois rebellion against British rule in 1837. ...

External links

• Global Guerrillas blog - Networked tribes, infrastructure disruption, and the emerging bazaar of violence.
• O Insurgente - an important portuguese political weblog
• Rethinking Insurgency monograph by Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College
• Athena Intelligence Advanced Research Network on Insurgency and Terrorism