There was an ample literature on counterinsurgency theory–COIN, in military parlance–by 1965. In fact, a long stream of books in English on counterinsurgency began in 1958 with Lederer and Burdick’s ...

But the effect of this sort of thing is going to be inevitably quite limited. And I think one of the unremarked upon conceits of counterinsurgency theory is that we will be able to effectively sway or ...

It's not entirely clear, but it appears that Army Captain and blogger Crispin Burke has written a post "explaining" the internal military debate over counterinsurgency theory with an extended metaphor ...

In his analysis of the shortcomings of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Bing West offers a compelling assessment that, as he writes, "counterinsurgency as nation building became a Sisyphean mission" ( ...

Great commanders often come in pairs: Eisenhower and Patton, Grant and Sherman, Napoleon and Davout, Marlborough and Eugene, Caesar and Labienus. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno can now be ...

Counterinsurgency theory, the American strategy used previously in Iraq and today in Afghanistan, is complex. If you'd like to grapple with the details, we evaluate that strategy here and here, ...

Galula in Algeria: Counter-Insurgency Practice versus Theory by Gregor Mathias. Translated by Neal Durando and Foreword by David Ucko. Published by Praeger Press, Boulder, Colorado. 137 pages, 2011.