TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing Global Counterinsurgency
T2 - The Special Group (CI) 1962–1966
AU - Michaels, Jeffrey H.
N1 - Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - The contemporary American counterinsurgency discourse has emphasised a particular historical narrative of Vietnam to justify large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Absent from this narrative is any reference to the broader Cold War context in which Vietnam existed alongside numerous other small-scale counterinsurgencies and was therefore the exception, not the rule. This article seeks to redress this shortcoming by examining the way counterinsurgency was conceived and managed at the level of 'grand strategy.' Specifically, it focuses on the Special Group (Counterinsurgency) to demonstrate that senior policymakers under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson understood 'counterinsurgency' as involving 'indirect' assistance to foreign governments, rather than taking 'direct' military action with American ground forces.
AB - The contemporary American counterinsurgency discourse has emphasised a particular historical narrative of Vietnam to justify large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Absent from this narrative is any reference to the broader Cold War context in which Vietnam existed alongside numerous other small-scale counterinsurgencies and was therefore the exception, not the rule. This article seeks to redress this shortcoming by examining the way counterinsurgency was conceived and managed at the level of 'grand strategy.' Specifically, it focuses on the Special Group (Counterinsurgency) to demonstrate that senior policymakers under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson understood 'counterinsurgency' as involving 'indirect' assistance to foreign governments, rather than taking 'direct' military action with American ground forces.
U2 - 10.1080/01402390.2011.592002
DO - 10.1080/01402390.2011.592002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84858111199
SN - 0140-2390
VL - 35
SP - 33
EP - 61
JO - The Journal of Strategic Studies
JF - The Journal of Strategic Studies
IS - 1
M1 - N/A
ER -