Counter-COIN: Counterinsurgency and the Preemption of Strategy

TY - JOUR

T1 - Counter-COIN: Counterinsurgency and the Preemption of Strategy

AU - Jones, David Martin

AU - Smith, M. L. R.

AU - Stone, John

PY - 2012/9

Y1 - 2012/9

N2 - The notion of "counterinsurgency" (COIN) has for some years been the central concept driving military operations in Afghanistan, and before that, in Iraq. It constitutes the dominant idea influencing much current military planning of the major Western powers. This study questions the assumptions and relevance of the thinking behind counterinsurgency doctrine. It suggests that the ultimate effect of its dominance is to reduce the highly contingent nature of war to a list of techniques, the application of which are regarded as a sufficient precondition whenever states deem that they are confronted by conflicts that can be described as an "insurgency." Such assumptions are both arbitrary and risk crowding out necessary, although by their nature very difficult, political judgments that are required for the effective construction and implementation of strategies that seek to ensure that the ends sought are proportional to the means employed.

AB - The notion of "counterinsurgency" (COIN) has for some years been the central concept driving military operations in Afghanistan, and before that, in Iraq. It constitutes the dominant idea influencing much current military planning of the major Western powers. This study questions the assumptions and relevance of the thinking behind counterinsurgency doctrine. It suggests that the ultimate effect of its dominance is to reduce the highly contingent nature of war to a list of techniques, the application of which are regarded as a sufficient precondition whenever states deem that they are confronted by conflicts that can be described as an "insurgency." Such assumptions are both arbitrary and risk crowding out necessary, although by their nature very difficult, political judgments that are required for the effective construction and implementation of strategies that seek to ensure that the ends sought are proportional to the means employed.

U2 - 10.1080/1057610X.2012.702668

DO - 10.1080/1057610X.2012.702668

M3 - Article

SN - 1057-610X

VL - 35

SP - 597

EP - 617

JO - STUDIES IN CONFLICT AND TERRORISM

JF - STUDIES IN CONFLICT AND TERRORISM

IS - 9

ER -